02-05-2025
Farm Bill delayed, years after deadline, as Congress debates $230B SNAP cuts. What's next?
The clock is ticking once again as the extended 2018 Farm Bill approaches its latest deadline.
Originally set to expire in 2023, the bill — typically renewed every five years — has been extended twice, with the current extension set to end on Sept. 30, 2025.
Now, with less than five months remaining, the traditionally bipartisan legislation remains gridlocked.
The Farm Bill has become a point of contention due to sharp political divisions, primarily over funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
House Republicans are pushing to reduce SNAP funding by up to $230 billion over the next decade, citing fiscal responsibility and a desire to shift resources to other agricultural priorities. Democrats oppose the cuts, warning they would deepen food insecurity, especially in rural communities where SNAP is widely used.
The standoff over SNAP has become the main obstacle to passing a new Farm Bill, placing vital programs for both farmers and low-income families at risk.
This debate follows last year's stalled negotiations, when proposed cuts to SNAP totaled around $30 billion. Since then, changes in congressional leadership have driven that figure more than sevenfold, intensifying the partisan divide.
'A lot of us voted against a Farm Bill last year because there were $30 billion in cuts to SNAP,' Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Illinois) told Brownfield Ag News. 'Now we're talking about $230 billion worth of cuts to SNAP over 10 years. These are drastic cuts to people who are working, who are struggling to put food on the table for their kids.'
Budzinski also emphasized to Brownfield that the economic impact of SNAP extends beyond its recipients.
'A dollar of SNAP benefits generates about $1.50 in economic return,' she said. 'And who benefits from that? Our growers — the folks growing the food in our communities, helping provide the products people are purchasing with their SNAP benefits. So, this will also impact our farmers.'
In previous discussions, Rep. Glenn "GT" Thompson, a Republican from Pennsylvania and the chairman of the House committee, has emphasized his goal of avoiding cuts to benefits. However, during a hearing last month, he and other Republicans highlighted the need to strengthen the program's work requirements.
'We must preserve benefits for those who truly need them, but also ensure that SNAP helps guide participants toward independence and self-sufficiency,' Thompson said.
In Texas, more than 3.4 million people rely on SNAP benefits to help support their livelihoods.
Members of Congress who sit on the Senate and House Committees on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry are primarily responsible for drafting farm bills.
The Farm Bill is a $1.5 trillion program that consists of a lot more than just crops and livestock. In fact, it impacts everyone in one way or the other, whether through school lunch and government assistance or support of natural resources, such as our forests.
The legislation is broken into 12 sections, or titles. Each title addresses different aspects of agriculture and related sectors. Here's a summary of each title:
Commodities: Covers price and income support for farmers producing non-perishable crops, dairy and sugar, along with agricultural disaster assistance.
Conservation: Includes programs for natural resource conservation on working lands and land retirement and easement programs.
Trade: Covers food export subsidy programs and international food aid.
Nutrition: Encompasses SNAP and other nutrition programs to assist low-income Americans, as well as school lunches.
Credit: Focuses on federal loan programs to help farmers access financial credit.
Rural development: Supports rural economic growth through business and community development, rural housing and infrastructure.
Research, extension, and related matters: Funds farm and food research, education and extension programs.
Forestry: Addresses forest-specific conservation programs.
Energy: Encourages biofuel production, renewable energy installation and energy-related research.
Horticulture: Includes farmers market programs, research funding for horticultural crops and organic farming initiatives.
Crop Insurance: Provides subsidies for crop insurance premiums and supports the development of insurance policies.
Miscellaneous: Covers various advocacy and outreach areas such as support for beginning, socially disadvantaged, and veteran farmers, agricultural labor safety, workforce development and livestock health.
No new farm bills have been fully drafted or published this year.
While the overall priorities are likely to remain similar to those of last year, they have been adjusted in response to ongoing discussions and the failure to pass a new bill ahead of the presidential election.
With Republicans now controlling the House, Senate, and the presidency, the new Farm Bill is expected to reflect more conservative priorities, such as a focus on fiscal responsibility, spending reductions, and shifts in resource allocation, particularly within programs like SNAP.
In the proposed 2024 Farm Bill, which ultimately did not come to fruition, some of the major changes that would have been implemented, if passed, included:
SNAP Cuts (U.S. House): The proposal suggested maintaining the Thrifty Food Plan without factoring in inflation adjustments, potentially leading to a reduction of approximately $30 billion (now increased to $230 billion) in SNAP funding over the next decade. Over time, these cuts would have amplified, resulting in diminishing adequacy of SNAP benefits.
Price Loss Coverage Increase (U.S. House): Price Loss Coverage reference prices would have increased by 10% to 20%, depending on the commodity, simultaneously enhancing income protection for growers through the Agriculture Risk Coverage program and crop insurance.
Reallocate Conservation Funding (U.S. House): Incorporating Inflation Reduction Act conservation funding into the bill, the U.S. House proposed removing restrictions that limited funding for climate-smart practices. Instead, the funding would have been reallocated toward modifications to the Conservation Reserve Program and the reauthorization of funding for feral swine eradication. It would also have created a new Forest Conservation Easement Program.
Support for Underserved Producers (U.S. Senate): The Senate's bill sought to increase financial support and price loss coverage for underserved producers (non-male and communities of color). The Senate also proposed an increase in PLC by only 3 to 5%.
Rural Childcare Improvements (U.S. Senate): The Senate bill prioritized projects for childcare facilities in rural areas.
Environmental Quality Incentives Updates (U.S. Senate): The bill expanded the purposes of EQIP to include "promoting environmental quality and climate change adaptation and mitigation as compatible goals with agricultural production and forest management; assisting producers with complying with local, state, and national regulatory requirements concerning climate change adaptation, mitigation, and resilience; and providing flexible assistance to producers to install and maintain conservation practices that sustain food and fiber production while sequestering carbon, increasing drought resilience, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and conserving energy."
Farm Transitions (U.S. House): The bill sought to reauthorize the Commission on Farm Transitions-Needs for 2050 and make improvements based on Committee Member Yadira Caraveo's (D-Colo.) bipartisan legislation.
Farmland Tracking (U.S. House): The bill aimed to refine reporting mandates within the Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure Act to enhance monitoring of acquisitions of U.S. farmland by Chinese and other foreign entities..
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Farm Bill delayed as Congress debates $230B cuts to SNAP. What's next?
