Farm bill fails in Senate ag over SNAP, beef amendment added

The Senate Agriculture Committee today failed to pass the Farm Bill 2.0 by a vote along partisan lines.

The vote was 11 to 10. All 10 Democrats in the room voted against the bill, and Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., voted against it by proxy. Ten Republicans in the room and two by proxy — Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama — voted for it.

Proxy votes on final passage cannot move a bill out of committee. 

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., said the committee would recess rather than adjourn and will take up the bill again in September.

Democrats voted against the bill because they are dissatisfied with a provision that delays the imposition of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act provision that requires the states to pay a portion of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for one year until fiscal year 2029. The Democrats want a two-year delay.

Boozman and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that the White House will support only a one-year delay, but Boozman also said it is the “mood” of the Republican conference that the states are doing a “horrible” job of administering the SNAP program and need to improve their performance. 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., ranking member on the committee, said that she hopes to continue to work with Boozman on the bill during the August recess.

Just before the final vote, the committee passed by 17 to 6 an amendment Thune offered to ask the Agriculture Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to find a World Trade Organization-compliant path for mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef.

The senators who voted against the Thune amendment are Republicans John Boozman of Arkansas, Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran of Kansas, Jim Justice of West Virginia, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.

On the final vote on the bill, Boozman said in a news release, “I’m deeply disappointed by this outcome. We have a responsibility to stand with America’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities. Everyone recognizes the serious challenges they continue to face, and blocking the farm bill only adds to the uncertainty and hardship.”

But Klobuchar said during the hearing it was unfair that states with a mid-level SNAP payment rate would not be treated as well as states with the highest error rates.

In a statement after the vote, Klobuchar said, “I am committed to continuing to work with Chairman Boozman on this bill to get it done, and there are good things in it for our farmers and ranchers, including year-round E-15, a provision I have long led on. As noted by the chairman, the Agriculture Committee meeting remains open for further discussions on this bill.”

The committee also voted on 12 amendments offered by Democrats, and all failed. 

Boozman said the en bloc amendment and the Thune amendment will remain part of the bill even though it failed today.