Farm Bill Logistics
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. Legislative logistics, not just farm policy fights, are impeding the completion of a 2023 farm bill …
THOMPSON … “My goal, my personal goal actually, is that at the beginning of September, we’re in a place when we’re back here, to be able to have a bill that we can mark up, and then, soon after that, have that on the House floor.”
But a month or so after that comment to Agri-Pulse, House Ag Chair GT Thompson said he won’t unveil his bill for panel action until House leaders reserve a week for it on the floor, MAYBE in September.
Spending bills, a spending extension showdown, and a GOP
Biden impeachment push could all be given priority … AND then there’s the Senate …
THOMPSON … “I can’t control the Senate. We can only do our best, and I can collaborate and communicate with the Senate, and we’re doing that.”
But Senate Ag is even further behind, according to Committee member Chuck Grassley …
GRASSLEY … “Both from the standpoint of Senator Schumer’s statements and Senator Stabenow’s statements, we’ll get a bill by the end of the year. And if we had text by October 1st, I think that’s still very much a possibility.”
Otherwise, Grassley sees the need for a one-year farm bill extension through 2024, an election year.
A recent Purdue University poll showed 36% of large-scale producers surveyed in mid-July said a farm bill is “very or somewhat” unlikely this year.
