Boozman staff issues statement on IRA conservation funds
Boozman-RFP-022023
| A spokesman for Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., the ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Committee, made it clear Wednesday that Boozman opposes the position of Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., that if conservation funds from the Inflation Reduction Act are moved to the farm bill those funds must still be used for climate-related conservation projects. “There have been some misinterpretations of ranking member Boozman’s position on moving IRA conservation funds into the farm bill, so I felt it would be beneficial to send a quick note clarifying where he stands on the issue,” Boozman spokesman Patrick Creamer said in a note to reporters. Creamer wrote, “For the reasons laid out in our recent blog post, Sen. Boozman is advocating for bringing IRA conservation funds into the farm bill so that all farmers could access all practices to help meet their unique conservation needs and achieve our shared goals.” “Should we be able to reach a bipartisan agreement to bring these funds into the farm bill without the current ‘climate smart’ guardrails, then we can build permanent baseline while helping all producers meet a variety of environmental conservation practices that are particular to each individual farm,” he said. “If the majority insists on maintaining these guardrails, then the programs will remain out of the farm bill, and Congress would miss an opportunity to build additional baseline for conservation programs and be left to readdress the IRA programs when the law expires and the funding runs out in 2031.” |
Ag & Politics
