No Progress

It’s hard to find anyone optimistic about passing a new farm bill this year. While the two political parties don’t agree on much, there’s a growing consensus that nothing is going to happen this year. All signs point to another extension when the current one expires Sept. 30.

The chance of a new farm bill is now 12% In June, I wrote that was a bit under 20%. In hindsight, that was probably too optimistic. Over the past month there’s been plenty of talk about needing a new bill. As for progress, that’s a different story. So why 12%? Well, it’s higher than zero. The Senate Ag Committee has made little progress advancing the much-hyped farm bill proposals from Democratic Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow and Republican Ranking Member John Boozman. Earlier this week, a reporter asked ag committee member Chuck Grassley, R- Iowa, if he thought Stabenow and Boozman were making a good effort to draft a farm bill compromise. Grassley’s response was telling. “I think the only effort they’ve been making is that they both put out frameworks,” he said. It’s been nearly two months since the House Ag Committee approved a Republican farm bill framework submitted by Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson. Since then, there has been nothing but crickets. Speaker Mike Johnson still hasn’t said if he plans to schedule a vote. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack argues a farm bill won’t get done until all parties look at it from a practical point of view. He says the House bill promises a lot of things to farmers but doesn’t have the money to pay for them. Staffers who drafted the bill contend the math adds up, but the Congressional Budget Office estimates don’t align. “I like to say that they’ve used Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak to essentially cloak over what I think CBO says is at least a $30 billion deficit,” Vilsack says. Ag Committee Ranking Member David Scott used a July 10 committee hearing to slam Republicans for being “selfish” and “disrespectful to farmers.” According to him, the GOP is delaying the farm bill to play election-year politics. “Shouldn’t the Republicans be getting serious about this?” Scott asked. “Speaker Johnson will not bring the bill to the floor for a vote because it was not written as a serious bill. It was written to be used as a campaign slogan, nothing more.”