By Ryan Hanrahan
Progressive Farmer’s Jake Zajkowski reported that “the Senate Agriculture Committee advanced the 2026 farm bill on a 12-11 party-line vote Wednesday after resuming a recessed business meeting and rejecting an effort to reopen the bill for another amendment. The bill advanced after Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., returned to the committee following an extended absence.”
“…The bill includes key farm priorities, including year-round E15, mandatory country-of-origin labeling (MCOOL) and measures to address high input costs, such as the Fertilizer Transparency Act,” Zajkowski reported. “Those provisions are encompassed in the 34-amendment en bloc package, or manager’s amendment, and by a separate amendment, passed by a 16-7 vote in August, in favor of MCOOL.”
The Hill’s Mira Bhakta reported that “Democrats on the panel have pushed back against a provision in the bill that would require states to help cover the cost of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding alongside the federal government if payment error rates in a state exceeded a certain point.”
“Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), the panel’s chair, compromised with Democrats, who had expressed concern about the provision earlier this summer, by offering a one-year delay,” Bhakta reported. “… The panel’s Democrats said the delay was not enough time for states like Minnesota and Colorado. ‘We share this goal of reducing error rates, but we recognize the reality that states across the country need time and equal resources to bring them down,’ Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the ranking member on the panel, said during the meeting.”
Source : illinois.edu