Boozman, Thompson highlight almost $14B in farm subsidies, Craig laments SNAP cost share

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., said late Thursday, the first day of the new fiscal year, that the subsidies to be sent to farmers in October will total $13.8 billion under the Republican-passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., the ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee, noted that states must pay a higher share of administrative costs for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program under the same bill. 

Boozman and Thompson said that the $13.8 billion to be distributed through the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage by the Agriculture Department’s Farm Service Agency is more than double what farmers would have received before the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, also known as the Working Families Tax Cut Act. 

“Farming is an inherently risky business. America’s producers need adequate risk management tools that deliver certainty and predictability to continue growing our food and fiber,” they said in a joint news release. 

“After years of operating under an outdated farm safety net, congressional Republicans delivered enhanced policies to protect and manage against market volatility and diminished yields. The ARC and PLC payments farmers are receiving this month are critical to supporting our hardworking farm families, strengthening the stability of the industry and planning for a future in farming,” Boozman and Thompson said.

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee who is in a surprisingly competitive race for re-election, noted that Mississippi’s share of increased farm subsidies will be $423 million. 

“American farmers and ranchers pour their hearts and souls into producing the food and fiber that we all need,” Hyde-Smith said.

“The farm safety net is supposed to help them survive global competition, economic uncertainty, and market volatility, and that’s what we’ve successfully strengthened.  As such, producers across Mississippi and this great nation will finally get the first meaningful investment in farm safety net programs that they deserve.”

Mississippi Democrats wonder if the Senate seat is within reach, The Washington Post reported. 

Craig said, “Starting today, states and counties will be responsible for an unfunded SNAP cost-shift, forced onto them by the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which increased their share of administrative costs from 50% to 75%.”

“The money Republicans took from administering SNAP did not go toward making SNAP more efficient or improving fraud mitigation efforts; it went toward tax breaks for billionaires and the corporations building data centers in our backyards,” Craig said.

“Since the Big Beautiful Bill went into effect, over 5 million Americans, including around 2 million children, have been kicked off food assistance. With today’s cost-shift to the states, the growing hunger and food affordability crisis in America will only get worse. Working people cannot afford Trump’s America.”