The Senate Agriculture Committee unveiled its full draft text of the five-year farm bill on Monday, weeks before key agricultural safety net programs begin to expire.
The release of the bill text could spur last-minute action on the stalled legislation before the end of the year. Democrat and Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow implored moderate Republicans to support the Senate draft, saying partisan politics will continue to divide Congress and stall progress next year.
“I would encourage my Republican colleagues to join with us to get this done now,” Stabenow said during a floor speech Monday. “I firmly believe that it is the best and probably only path to pass a five-year farm bill this year.”
The Senate draft moves to the center on a number of issues by emphasizing an increased farm safety net, proposing a $20 billion boost to the Price Loss Coverage and the Agriculture Risk Coverage programs. In a turnaround for Democrats, the bill would pay for the increase through a five-year spending restriction on the Commodity Credit Corporation, which has been used in the past to pay for trade bailouts and climate programs.
Democrats previously resisted calls to restrict CCC funding, which has been at the heart of Republicans’ plan to pay for increases to the farm safety net. The Senate’s proposed five-year restriction is less than the 10 years proposed by Republicans in the House draft.
Still, the Senate bill remains firm on two of the biggest sticking points for Democrats: enshrining funding guardrails for climate-smart agriculture and ensuring food assistance benefits can continue to increase alongside rising costs. In addition to restricting CCC funds, Republicans have also looked to pay for their proposed boost to the farm safety net by freezing increases to the funding formula behind the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
“[The Senate bill] draws a clear line in the sand that we will not walk away from the progress we have made to keep families fed,” Stabenow said.
Congress has roughly three legislative weeks left before the end of the year, which is when safety net programs revert back to Depression-era law and threaten to raise food prices and upend farmer operations. The timing of the Senate draft raises questions around whether leaders can coalesce a bipartisan coalition and quickly pass a bill.
John Boozman, Arkansas Republican and ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said Democrats’ proposal comes far too late.
“An 11th hour partisan proposal released 415 days after the expiration of the current farm bill is insulting,” he said in an update to X, formerly known as Twitter. “America’s farmers deserve better.”