Rural lawmakers push for quick farm bill reauthorization despite GOP hard-liners’ revolt.

Lawmakers Push for Swift Action on $1 Trillion Farm Bill Reauthorization

Lawmakers representing rural districts are urgently calling on their colleagues to act quickly on the reauthorization of the $1 trillion farm bill. They hope to prevent a growing rebellion among conservatives who aim to reduce government spending.

A revolt was ignited among members on the right flank of the Republican Party against GOP leadership earlier this month after expressing frustrations with the debt ceiling deal. The deal was brokered between Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and President Joe Biden. Hard-line conservatives threatened to stall action on the floor in response, criticizing McCarthy’s agreement to raise the debt limit in exchange for spending cuts.

The group was particularly upset about a provision in the debt limit bill that could expand federal food aid recipients, a measure that GOP lawmakers sought to restrict by implementing increased work requirements. A similar measure included in the farm bill package could once again provoke the anger of hard-liners, potentially derailing the bill if their concerns are not addressed.

The Importance of the Farm Bill

The farm bill is a legislative package passed by Congress approximately every five years. It includes measures that fund crucial programs for farming communities across the country, affecting crop selection and cultivation methods.

The most recent version of the farm bill, known as the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, is set to expire at the end of September. It easily passed both the House and Senate in December 2018, as both parties historically support extending this key legislation.

The House Agriculture Committee has already begun drafting legislative text and plans to hold a series of hearings over the next two months.

“When you’re a farmer, you don’t have the luxury of delaying the harvest because you disagree with policymakers,” said Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA), a member of the committee. “Farmers depend on these programs for their success, so we can’t keep postponing decisions.”

However, negotiations are expected to intensify, especially as hard-line conservatives push for stricter restrictions on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provisions.

The current farm bill reauthorized SNAP benefits, providing food assistance and employment and training programs for low-income individuals and families across the country. These benefits are set to expire in September. Republicans are likely to advocate for increased work requirements, setting up a clash with Senate Democrats who refuse to negotiate the program’s benefits.

“The only real change there is that we’ve put in work requirements for able-bodied adults, up to 54 without dependents and children, to put in 20 hours of job development work or job seeking or job skills development in order to be eligible for SNAP,” explained Rep. John Duarte (R-CA), another member of the House Agriculture Committee.

Republicans initially pushed for strict work requirements in the debt limit bill, but many of those proposals were weakened during negotiations. Frustrated conservatives are now pushing even harder for these restrictions to be included.

“The work requirements are very popular in my district, and I’ve got the 18th-highest poverty level in an American district,” Duarte said. “So we have many people relying on the SNAP program, and still the sentiment is that able-bodied adults need to work or seek work if they’re going to ask for this public benefit.”

Despite the disagreements, some Republicans like Nunn are urging their colleagues to swiftly pass the bill, emphasizing the importance of other provisions that are crucial for farmers.

The legislation includes various programs that provide crop insurance for farmers and ensure access to healthy foods for low-income families. Since its inception in the 1930s, the farm bill has focused on three goals: maintaining fair prices for farmers and consumers, ensuring an adequate food supply nationwide, and preserving the country’s natural resources.

“This is a must-pass piece of legislation,” emphasized the Iowa Republican. “If we want to have food on our plates, we need to be able to grow food in the field. Dropping the ball on the farm bill because we’re solely focused on cutting spending without an efficient plan would be a challenge.”

House Democrats also support the bill, highlighting measures such as commodity protection that help keep prices affordable. Some members warn that a delay in passage could have a devastating impact on family farms, which are already disappearing at an alarming rate.

“If we’re unable to make the farm bill work, it will really hurt our family farmers and producers,” said Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-IL).

Sorensen acknowledged concerns about the SNAP requirements pushed by his GOP colleagues, noting that it’s “concerning” that the “aging population will now be forced to work to receive the benefits they need for food security.” However, he signaled that Democrats on the Agriculture Committee would continue to work closely with Republicans to achieve bipartisan legislation on the House floor.

“I think this gives us an opportunity to find ways to work together across the partisan divide and find solutions,” Sorensen said. “It’s a chance to prove to our communities that we can work together instead of shutting things down due to political power.”

Nunn echoed similar sentiments, emphasizing the importance of passing a bill that can also make it through the Democratic-led Senate.

“We’re going to work hard across the aisle because this also has to make it through the Senate,” he said. “And it has to make it to the president. I don’t want to see a situation where we lose the farm bill because we’ve made it impossible to reach the resolute desk.”

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