Farmers Union on the BBB

The reconciliation bill, referred to as the one big, beautiful bill, was signed into law. Mike Stanz, vice president of advocacy for the National Farmers Union, shares the NFU’s perspective on this legislation.

“In the bill, there's some good stuff and there's some not so good stuff. There's trade offs where there are gains. So real improvements to the farm safety net and making sure that there's some helpful tax provisions for farmers and support for biofuels and good use of funds for conservation programs. We like to see those. But at the same time, cuts to snap, divide the Farm Bill coalition and will hurt people in need, and also reductions in Medicaid that'll have harmful effects on millions of Americans, and particularly rural Americans.”

While past Farm Bills have typically seen bipartisan support, this one revealed deep divisions, creating regional and political tension throughout the process strands. He says it's unfortunate to see such division, but he's glad to see this version of farm policy move forward.

“The way things played out this year, politically. That's why we saw things work out this way. So hopefully this isn't the end of the Farm Bill coalition, or that we move into a way that we can continue to have bipartisan, broadly supported bills.”

Mike Stranz with the National Farmers Union.