Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman, R-Ark., released text for a farm bill Tuesday afternoon. He called the bill a “discussion draft” that is “built for the people who feed America.”
“It will strengthen agriculture, support rural communities and ensure American farm families have the resources and the tools they need to succeed for generations to come,” Boozman added.
He said the ag committee will likely consider the bill after July 4, with a goal of getting it passed before the Senate adjourns at month’s end.
Not a typical farm bill
Last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act included updates to farm safety net programs, federal crop insurance and nutrition programs. Those programs typically account for around 85% of all farm bill funding. Since those issues have already been addressed, lawmakers are now looking to update the remaining farm bill provisions that have not been changed since the last farm bill expired in 2023.
The more than 900-page farm bill proposal is similar to legislation passed by the House in April. It includes increases to Farm Service Agency loan limits and additional support for specialty crop farmers. It reauthorizes the Conservation Reserve Program and expands eligibility for multiple farmer assistance programs.
Notably, the bill does not include language authorizing summer E15 sales or provisions prohibiting restrictive state agriculture laws like California’s Proposition 12.
The bill also does not include additional ad hoc assistance funding. That will likely be addressed in separate legislation.
Will this pass?
Senate rules require 60 votes to pass legislation. Since there are only 53 Republicans in the Senate, at least seven senators who caucus would need to vote for the GOP-authored farm bill. That could be a tall order. Ag committee Democrats have been pushing to restore nutrition funding that was cut last year. They also want to delay a One Big Beautiful Bill Act provision that shifts more Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program costs to individual states. Critics of that provision fear the change will lead to benefit cuts and potentially fewer people receiving food assistance.
“This bill does not address the devastating cuts to SNAP or the shift to state taxpayers passed into law as part of HR 1,” agriculture committee Democrats said in a June 23 joint statement. “We appreciate that bipartisan provisions have been included in the discussion draft and stand ready to work with Republicans to negotiate a bipartisan farm bill that both meets the moment and can be successful on the Senate Floor.”
Even if the bill passes the Senate, lawmakers would still need to reconcile it with the House farm bill. House Ag Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig was even more blunt in her assessment of the Senate bill. In a June 23 statement, she slammed the Senate bill saying it falls “far short” of meeting the needs of family farmers and working people. She called on the Senate to negotiate a bill that, in her words, “stands a chance of becoming law.”
“Trump’s inflationary tariffs, trade wars and war with Iran have made life more expensive for all Americans and making a profit nearly impossible for our farmers,” Craig said. “Instead of working with Senate Democrats on a bipartisan deal to fix these problems and restore food assistance by addressing the $187 billion in SNAP cuts and the unfunded mandate to the states from HR 1, Senator Boozman chose the partisan status quo. Farmers and working people need real solutions that will open markets, bring down costs and make everyday life less expensive.”
Despite the expected pushback, Boozman said he remained optimistic. While calling the current state of agriculture a “generational crisis” and the worst it’s been for farm country in “decades,” he noted bipartisan Senate votes helped deliver the farmer bridge payment program and billions in disaster assistance within the last year.
“I’m optimistic that if we can just solve a few problems, we will be able not only to get to 60 (votes) but to have a good vote,” Boozman said.