By Ryan Hanrahan
Politico’s Grace Yarrow reported that “after clearing their agriculture megabill hurdle, Republicans are looking to pass a smaller farm bill that includes some key policies that haven’t been updated since the last farm bill was passed in 2018.”
“Lawmakers already included $67 billion in spending farm bill programs in the reconciliation package, meaning some of the most expensive (and controversial GOP priorities) have already been handled,” Yarrow reported. “That leaves a key group of other farm programs that need to be extended, funded or updated, though House Ag Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) said he expects the ‘farm bill 2.0’ to cost less than $8 billion.”
“Thompson told MA last week that he’s focused on including bipartisan bills in the next farm bill package, largely based on what the House Ag Committee advanced in May 2024,” Yarrow reported. “‘Unless [Democrats] purely want to play politics, there’s no basis for partisanship with what we’re going to do in the farm bill, the remaining portion,’ Thompson said.”
Agri-Pulse’s Philip Brasher reported that when “asked about his timetable for committee action, (Thompson) said, ‘September … Let’s get this, get this out of the way so it can start to work for the American farmer.'”
Source : illinois.edu