House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., said today that the committee is still waiting for more scores of farm bill programs from the Congressional Budget Office but that CBO has been doing a good job of analyzing the proposals the committee has made.

At an Axios live event, Thompson told Juliegrace Brufke, the Capitol Hill correspondent, that the committee is still waiting for scores of some proposals on the farm bill.

But in a brief interview after the presentation, Thompson told The Hagstrom Report that CBO analysts “have done a lot.” Thompson added he believes that “we are overwhelming them” with proposals. He also praised the Agriculture Department for providing technical assistance on proposals.

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In his presentation, Thompson also noted that, while the farm bill expires Sept. 30, “the functional deadline” for most of the farm bill is Dec. 31 and for crops the dates next year that are tied to the growing season.

“We want to avoid any significant disruption in a program that impacts the American farmer,” Thompson explained.

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“There are a few things that come to a screeching halt on Oct. 1,” Thompson said, without going into details.

Thompson said prospects are still good for passing a bipartisan farm bill and that he has never seen such strong support from leadership.

He urged support for the bill, telling a mostly young audience that the bill is far different from those passed in the 1980s. He described those bills as “taking a grain shovel” and pouring out money, hoping it would solve problems.

The next farm bill, he said, “is based on public-private partnerships and is vital to national security. That bill “should not only serve [the farmers] through 2028 but be a platform for the future.”

Thompson said he defines American agriculture as “science, technology and innovation.” He said that before irrigation the only reason that farmers moving west stopped “is that the wheels fell off the wagon.” Those farmers used the innovation of irrigation to increase productivity.

Thompson said the Biden administration has been “really slow” on international trade, noting that it took a long time for the nominations of Doug McKalip, chief agriculture trade negotiator, and Alexis Taylor, agriculture undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs. But he noted that both McKalip and Taylor are now in their positions and said “I couldn’t think of two better people.”

He said the Biden administration should continue with “the previous administration’s” efforts to reach trade agreements with Kenya and the United Kingdom.

The Foreign Market Development and Market Access Program to help farm groups promote trade “are being funded at the level they were created,” he said.

The Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency has “sidelined scientists and demonized crop protection tools,” he said.