Government Funding Bill to Include Ag Economic Aid, Sources Say

By Ryan Hanrahan

Politico’s Katherine Tully-McManus, Jennifer Scholtes, and Meredith Lee Hill reported Monday evening that “top lawmakers were still negotiating the final details Monday night of a stopgap spending patch tied to a slew of other last-ditch priorities as Friday’s federal government shutdown deadline grows closer.”

“While negotiations on the funding patch itself are resolved, disputes continue over agriculture aid and other potential add-ons, as leaders look to attach year-end priorities like extending expiring health programs and a bill to restrict U.S. investment in China,” Lee Hill reported. “…Hill leaders have tentatively secured a compromise on major pieces of a one-year extension of the farm bill, according to three people familiar with the talks. Disputes over those policies snagged negotiations over the weekend, and last-minute jockeying continued Monday night. But the plans so far include an additional $10 billion in economic aid for farmers, as sought by lawmakers from agriculture-heavy districts, among other items.”

Progressive Farmer’s Chris Clayton reported that “in an interview Monday, American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said his team had heard the ‘four corners’ of the House and Senate Agriculture committees ‘were agreeable’ at lunchtime on Saturday to move forward with a plan. They had agreed on $10 billion for economic aid, Duvall said.”

“‘That’s when we started putting pressure on from our grassroots,’ Duvall said,” according to Clayton’s reporting. “He added, ‘When we activated our membership, we generated over 2,000 contacts asking their congressional representatives to call leadership and put politics aside and get this done.’”

“Lost in the process could be $14 billion or so in USDA conservation dollars passed in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022. Those funds went into USDA’s main farm bill conservation programs but include the requirement that the farm practices used for those dollars must reduce greenhouse-gas emissions or sequester carbon in the soil,” Clayton reported.

“Republicans on the House and Senate Agriculture committees have pressed all year to roll those dollars into the farm bill but take away the climate requirements. Stabenow last week told DTN that her staff had found that rolling the IRA dollars into the farm bill generated $10.7 billion in savings that could then be used for economic aid. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., apparently told the four corners last week that the GOP caucus doesn’t support using those IRA dollars. That funding could be lost if Republicans cut or eliminate all the IRA programs when they control both chambers of Congress.”

Overall Funding Bill Remains Under Wraps

Punchbowl News reported that “there had been widespread anticipation that a (Continuing Resolution) CR package would be unveiled Monday afternoon, meaning Congress had an outside shot of going home on Thursday.”

“But as the day wore on, it became clear that no agreement was going to be released. With Johnson adamant that he’ll honor the 72-hour rule, that pushes a House vote into Thursday night. Meaning the Senate may not vote until Friday or even Saturday,” Punchbowl reported. “That’s right up against the shutdown deadline, although OMB always gives Congress and the White House leeway for weekend maneuvers.”

“Johnson has continued to insist that a deal was expected shortly, even when it was clear it wasn’t. Johnson said last week a bill would be released Sunday. On Monday morning, the speaker said the text would be out within an hour. None of this came to fruition. Yet Johnson is nothing if not endlessly upbeat,” Punchbowl reported.

When released, “the CR will run until March 14, House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told us,” Punchbowl reported. “That gives Hill leaders and incoming President-elect Donald Trump time to reach an agreement on the FY2025 spending bills before the automatic sequester kicks in during April. Those cuts are mandated under the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act, the brainchild of President Joe Biden and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The cuts would run into the tens of billions of dollars for defense and non-defense if they’re not turned off first.”

Government Funding Bill to Include Ag Economic Aid, Sources Say was originally published by Farmdoc.