Farm Groups Demand Ag Aid Despite Congressional Impasse

Major U.S. farm groups said they would try to torpedo a short-term government funding bill in Congress this week unless it contains a multibillion-dollar bailout for agriculture. Negotiations fell apart over the weekend on inclusion of so-called economic aid in the only must-pass bill left before adjournment, scheduled for Friday.

“I call on members of Congress who represent agriculture to stand with farmers by insisting the supplemental spending bill include economic aid for farmers and voting it down if it doesn’t,” said president Zippy Duvall of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Groups speaking for soybean, wheat, cotton, rice, and sorghum growers also opposed a spending bill that failed to address lower commodity prices and rising costs in farm country.

Others, such as the National Farmers Union and National Corn Growers Association, said lawmakers should try again. “Time is running out to secure a deal before the end of the year,” said NFU president Rod Larew. “Lawmakers must not walk away from their responsibility to rural America.”

Congressional leaders could unveil the content of the government funding bill as early as Monday, with the House and Senate to vote soon afterward. At present, the so-called continuing resolution was expected to include another one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill, which expired in September 2023.

Farm groups could exercise leverage because control of Congress is closely divided. A small number if lawmakers could be a roadblock for legislation.

Republicans and Democrats blamed each other for the impasse, after each side rejected the other’s proposal. Democrats proposed $10 billion in economic assistance. The expense would be offset by shifting some $13 billion in climate funds into USDA conservation programs, while maintaining “guardrails” on how it would be spent. Republicans proposed $12 billion in economic aid with few public details on how it was structured.

“It appears that congressional Democrats have not learned the lesson of the most recent election and continue to neglect the needs of rural America,” said House Agriculture chairman Glenn Thompson and Arkansas Sen. John Boozman, senior Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee.

“Their 11th-hour offer fell short of what farmers need, short-changed critical farm bill programs, and steals from critically needed assistance to address recent natural disasters,” said Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow and Georgia Rep. David Scott, senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. “We can and do both economic and disaster assistance, not pit one against the other.”