GOP Governors Urge Reauthorization of Farm Bill, Call 2018 Bill ‘Outdated’

By Cami Koons

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, along with governors from 16 other states, signed a joint letter Monday urging Congress to reauthorize the Farm Bill and to provide “immediate financial assistance” to the agricultural sector.

“Our nation’s agriculture industry is in trouble and if meaningful support is not provided soon, the well-being of the nation is at risk,” the letter read.

The Farm Bill was last authorized in 2018, and after failing to reauthorize it on the typical five-year schedule in 2023, Congress extended the 2018 bill through the 2024 fiscal and crop year.

Congress failed again in the 2024 regular session to pass a new Farm Bill, which allocates funding for agricultural and food programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Now U.S. lawmakers weigh the option to pass another extension of the bill, or rush to finish a new version during the lame duck session, before final provisions of the extension expire at the end of the year and new members are sworn in on Jan. 3.

The group of GOP governors is asking Congress to pass a new version of the massive bill rather than extend the “outdated” 2018 bill another year.

The letter said the current farm bill has left farmers to operate “under a framework that is no longer viable.”

The governors pointed to inflation, high input costs, high interest rates, natural disasters and agricultural trade deficits as “powerful headwinds” the sector has faced since the expiration of the 2018 Farm Bill.

“Another year-long extension will leave farmers working under an outdated plan as they continue to face evolving challenges in today’s agricultural landscape,” the letter said.

In mid November, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, chair of the Senate committee on agriculture, nutrition and forestry, issued an updated version of the “Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act” from earlier in the year that could serve as a new Farm Bill, if passed.

The updates include $39 billion in new resources for farmers, families participating in the SNAP program and rural communities, according to its summary.

Republican lawmakers have been unsupportive of the bill, with reports of House representatives rejecting the it and Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas calling it “not a sincere or transparent effort to address the urgent needs of rural America.”

The governors in their letter urged Congress to fulfill “its obligation to protect and revitalize the agriculture industry before it’s too late” by reauthorizing the bill rather than extending.

“If a country can’t feed itself, fuel itself, or fight for itself, then it cannot survive,” the letter read. “It is imperative that the United States not become dependent on other countries for our food supply, while we have the best farmers and ranchers in the world right in our backyards.”

Governors who signed the letter include Reynolds, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, Idaho Gov. Brad Little, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, and West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: [email protected]. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and X.