By Jonathan Coppess
The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee appears to have driven another nail in the coffin of the Farm Bill. It remains to be seen if it was the final one. On Thursday, August 6, 2026, the Committee failed to report legislation that committee chairman John Boozman (R-AR) has called “Farm Bill 2.0” (Yarrow, August 6, 2026; Senate ANF, Business Meeting, August 6, 2026; farmdoc daily, July 2, 2026). While Congress has adjourned for the August recess, the Chairman indicated that the committee may try again in the abbreviated and busy month of September (Yarrow and Shin, August 6, 2026; Farm Policy News, August 7, 2026). This failure to report legislation to finish the Farm Bill should send a clear warning, however.
The Food Assistance Roadblock Built by the Reconciliation Farm Bill
One primary takeaway was clear from the committee markup: the primary roadblock to moving legislation was built by the changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that were included as Title I in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OB3) Act of 2025 and referred to herein as the Reconciliation Farm Bill (Senate ANF, Business Meeting, August 6, 2026; P.L. 119-21). The most significant changes are summarized in Table 1 and include the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected changes in spending (CBO, July 21, 2025). In total, CBO projected that the changes would reduce SNAP spending by nearly $200 billion over 10 years (fiscal years 2025 to 2034, excluding interactions).
Previously known as Food Stamps, SNAP helps low-income individuals, families and households purchase of food. In 2025, the program provided an average of $188.33 per person (per month) to more than 42.4 million Americans (on average) each month (USDA-FNS, SNAP Data Tables, “National Level Annual Summary”). One of the political problems for SNAP is that even such a relatively small amount of assistance spends a large amount of federal money when it helps that many people; SNAP benefits totaled over $95.8 billion in 2025, and total program costs exceeded $102.6 billion. When such amounts are estimated in 10-year budget windows, the total costs exceed $1 trillion and too-easily obscure the realities on the ground for those hungry Americans struggling to put food on their tables.
The two largest changes summarized in Table 1 are designed to increase paperwork requirements and bureaucratic burdens, or barriers, to those seeking food assistance. They reduce spending by pushing people out of the program or preventing them from being able to sign-up for benefits. Recent reporting on the experiences of people in Arizona should be raising alarm bells about these changes (Kitroeff and DeParle, August 5, 2026; Kim, August 3, 2026; DeParle and Zehbrauskas, July 20, 2026; Cruz, June 17, 2026; Brangham and Merchant, June 8, 2026; Qiu, April 26, 2026; Cruz, April 8, 2026; Rosenbaum et al., August 5, 2026). Those experiences are likely the tip of this iceberg, demonstrating what is likely to happen in other states as these changes are implemented and the impacts hit home.
The Chairman’s draft included a one-year delay in the implementation of the State cost-share changes (Senate ANF, “Farm Bill 2.0” at Sec. 4101). The offer of a delay could be a tacit acknowledgement of the problems created by the Reconciliation Farm Bill. It was not enough, however, to bring any support from the Democrats on the committee. This may serve as a preview of a more troubled future.
Source : illinois.edu