Thompson promises farm bill before Memorial Day: Boozman, Stabenow upbeat

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., this week promised that he would release the text of a farm bill and hold a markup before Memorial Day, probably mid-May.

In a speech to the North American Agricultural Journalists on Tuesday, Thompson said he believes he is developing a bipartisan bill and has consulted with Democrats. (Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee, was unavailable to talk to NAAJ, and efforts to recruit another Democratic member of the committee to speak for the Democrats failed.)

“I am forever an optimist,” Thompson said. “Without a doubt, we will mark up a farm bill before Memorial Day.”

Thompson said a new bill is needed because farmers face “relentless inflation” that has been intensified by Biden administration policies.

Thompson described the bill he is developing as “tripartisan” — the result of input from Republicans, Democrats and “the families of American agriculture” whom he has met on his many roundtables and listening sessions held around the country.

He said the draft he has shared with Democrats would bring the conservation programs in the Inflation Reduction Act into the farm bill and use “most if not all” of the money in that program for conservation. The conservation efforts should be “locally led,” he said.

The bill will be “popular with stakeholders,” he said, “so Democrats will have a choice to make” about whether to support it.

Changes to rewrites of the Thrifty Food Plan that the Biden administration used to increase benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has provided “a significant pay for,” he said, but the measure will not cut current benefits and will expand access to the program. The bill will prevent “manipulation” to increase benefits, he said, but also protect the program from cuts by a “hard right” administration.

On the use of the Commodity Credit Corporation to fund farm programs, Thompson said he is working with the House Budget Committee.

Thompson also said he wants to increase funding for the USDA trade promotion programs.

The proposed EATS Act, which would counter California’s Proposition 12 that says pork sold in the state must come from animals raised under certain conditions, “is unfortunately not going anywhere,” but the issue will be addressed in the bill, Thompson said.

“The prize on messaging goes to the animal rights folks,” he said. The measure will be “respectful of states’ rights,” but will also be mindful of the critical comments that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has made about Prop 12, he said.

“It is very clear that he and the Supreme Court believe the farm bill is the place to address this,” Thompson added.

Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said he would release a framework on the farm bill after Thompson releases his bill. Boozman stressed his cordial relationship with Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., but said the framework will be a Republican document reflecting his ideas.

Boozman said his No. 1 issue is “to make sure we have the risk management tools in place.”

He said the Biden administration is doing a “lousy” job on trade and that “the world is looking to us right now” because no country wants “to put all their eggs in the Chinese basket.”

Boozman said he also wants to put the Inflation Reduction Act conservation money into the farm bill, but he wants “a say in those practices.”

“Of all the issues, that is very solvable,” Boozman said.

Asked about former President Trump’s statements that he would put more tariffs on China if he gets back in office, Boozman said it’s impossible to know “what will shake out in the next administration.” He also noted that President Biden has not removed Trump’s tariffs on China.

“Trump was very good for farmers,” Boozman said.

It would be better to get the farm bill done this year even though it is an election year because a new administration coming in would slow down the progress, he said.

On SNAP benefits, he said he wants to improve the connection between employment training programs and SNAP so that people earn more money and there are fewer people on SNAP.

Boozman said he is concerned about hedge funds buying up farmland because the profits leave farm country — a view that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack also holds.

On the issue of Arkansas directing Syngenta to sell its farmland, Boozman said, “That was not a big deal. You go around it, you get someone to buy it and you lease it from them.”

On the conservative House Republican Study Committee proposing deep cuts to farm programs, Boozman noted that this kind of proposal comes up with every farm bill.

Stabenow said, however, that she was “shocked” by the “draconian cuts” in the RSC proposal, particularly because 21 of the 29 Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee are members of the RSC.

“Farmers should be very upset about it,” she said.

Noting that she has been involved in six farms, she said the bill has to be bipartisan. She added that she has worked well with Boozman for years and that in the course of negotiations she and Thompson “have become friends.”

On crop insurance, she said she has never proposed that farmers would have to make a choice between all crop insurance policies and the commodity title programs, and that they would have to make the choice only if they chose to get increased premium subsidies.

The crop insurance proposal from Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., is focused mainly on larger enterprises, Stabenow said, adding she wants to increase availability for smaller and medium-sized producers.