Lawmakers ‘in the Very Early Stage’ of Skinny Farm Bill Discussions

By Ryan Hanrahan

Punchbowl News’ Samantha Handler reported late last week that “a farm bill battle is brewing for the fall when a set of key agriculture programs that GOP leaders neglected in their massive reconciliation package will expire.”

“Agriculture Committee Republicans cleared away most of the farm bill in their One Big Beautiful Bill, but now they need Democrats’ help to do the rest. And the OBBB’s deep cuts to SNAP only make bipartisan negotiations more difficult on a short timeline,” Handler reported. “‘Getting a bipartisan farm bill done, that’s the number one question I’ve been asked since I’ve been out here from Democrats and Republicans,’ Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said at Farmfest in Minnesota. ‘I still think there’s hope for that. I think there’s hope for that, because there’s still other work we have to do.'”

“House Agriculture Committee Chair GT Thompson (R-Pa.) hopes to release some legislative text in September  though it depends on staff work this month, according to a committee aide,” Handler reported. “It’s an aggressive timeline to get a farm bill together so quickly in the fall. While these leftover provisions aren’t as challenging as a full-scale farm bill, Congress still has so much more on its plate. Government funding will take up all the oxygen on Capitol Hill when lawmakers return in September.”

Agri-Pulse’s Noah Wicks reported that “there’s also some tension between Democrats and Republicans left over from the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by $186 billion over 10 years.”

“‘We’re in the very early stage of talking about what we would like to see in the skinny farm bill,’ Rep. Angie Craig, ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee, told Agri-Pulse Newsmakers at Minnesota Farmfest earlier this week,” Wicks reported. “However, she added, the size of the cuts in nutrition spending ‘makes it harder to get full Democratic support for a skinny farm bill down the road. I’ve made that clear.'”