The Senate returns from summer recess on Monday and Ag Committee Chair John Boozman is ready to vote on a farm bill — again. The Arkansas Republican told Farm Progress on Sept. 11 that he intends to call another vote sometime next week. Whether he has enough support to pass the legislation remains unknown.
In early August, Ag Committee Democrats blocked a Republican-backed farm bill proposal by one vote. They were able to do so in large part due to the absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. He’s been away from the Senate since suffering injuries during a June fall.
Boozman said he remains hopeful that McConnell will return to the Senate soon, though he has not spoken with him in the past month.
McConnell’s absence in August negated Republican’s one-vote majority on the committee. Democrats refused to support the proposed farm bill over concerns about pending cuts to federal nutrition funding.
New rules set to go into effect in October require states with error rates over 6% for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments to pay a percentage of food benefits typically covered by the federal government. However, states with the highest error rates can delay paying their penalties for two years.
A last-minute amendment to the Senate farm bill calls for delaying the new error-rate cost-share rule until fiscal year 2028. Committee Democrats did not accept that compromise, arguing all states should have the new rules go into effect at the same time. So far, neither side has indicated they intend to budge.
Boozman said it’s simply a matter of states being more responsible with the federal money they receive. He contends the vast majority of people he’s spoken with across the country agree with his point of view. While he said he thinks it’s fair to give states an additional year to lower their error rates, anything longer is just bad business.
“Any businessperson cannot understand how you could live in a situation where you overpaid your receipts 6%,” Boozman said. “Whoever does that in a normal business would be fired immediately.”
Both overpayments and underpayments count toward a state’s error rate; though overall, there are more overpayments, according to Boozman.
Democrats counter that the result of the error rate plan will be decreased benefits for those who need nutrition assistance the most. There are also concerns that states will be forced to curtail other services in order to meet the new federal funding requirements. The “Big, Beautiful Bill” also includes a provision requiring states to pay a higher portion of SNAP administrative costs.
Farm bill critical to farmers
While many nutrition and farm safety net funding issues were addressed in last year’s budget reconciliation package, Boozman said other critical provisions still need to be updated. Chief among them is the passage of year-round E15 legislation, which he said would be a “tremendous achievement.”
Boozman noted that the last full farm bill was passed in 2018. Credit limits in that bill are based on 2012 data.
“The world is totally different now than then,” he said. “If you’re wanting to build something or buy something, the credit limits are just woefully outdated.”
If the committee advances the farm bill, it will then face a tough vote in the Senate, requiring at least some Democratic support.
“If we can clear the committee with some Democrat support, then I don’t think we’ll have any trouble clearing the full Senate,” Boozman said, adding he is unaware if any committee Democrats plan to change their votes.
If that happens, lawmakers from the House and Senate will need to reconcile the differences between their respective bills. Boozman said if the bill gets to that point, he’s confident the House and Senate will be able to come to an agreement. He added that the last farm bill was passed during a lame duck congressional session, giving him hope that a new bill could pass no matter what happens in the upcoming midterm elections.
Push for more farmer assistance
While the Senate was out for the past month, Boozman said he spoke with many farmers in Arkansas and across the nation. His key takeaway from nearly all of those conversations is that it’s extremely difficult to be a farmer right now.
“If you’re growing something in the ground right now, you’re losing money,” he said. “We’re facing a generational challenge, and they [farmers] are voicing that.”
The senator said he is working with Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota to craft a new farmer bridge payment program. He expects it to be from $10 billion to $11 billion.
At one point, Boozman thought they could include bridge payments in another reconciliation bill. Now that a new reconciliation bill appears to be dead (at least for now), the two senators plan to find “other vehicles” to attach bridge payments to. That could potentially include adding it to farm bill legislation.