Ag Policy Blog

This article was updated at 1 p.m. Central on Saturday.

OMAHA (DTN) -- Congress is failing to come together on an economic-aid package because both parties remain locked in a standoff over funding.

At this point, the two sides appear so locked in their positions that $10 billion to $12 billion in potential economic aid could be scraped as a result.

The impasse prompted Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, to call for farm-state lawmakers to oppose the year-end supplemental legislation if economic aid is not included.

Republican leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture committees early Saturday released a joint statement blaming Democratic leaders in Congress for rejecting a $12 billion package for farmers. Their complaints come after Republican leaders rejected a $10.7 billion plan proposed by Democrats that also would have beefed up the farm bill by adding roughly $14 billion in funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) just days earlier.

Congress faces a Dec. 20 deadline to pass a new continuing resolution to keep funding the government. That package is expected to include a one-year extension of farm bill. Overall disaster funding has been a key sticking point in negotiations, including possibility of economic aid to farmers -- if a deal can still be reached before lawmakers are forced to vote on their funding package.

Rep. Glenn "GT" Thompson, R-Pa., chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, and Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, issued a statement Saturday on the breakdown in negotiations over economic aid. They pointed to a $30 billion decline in income and talks over the last few months with both parties on the need for economic aid. They blamed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., for rejecting the latest Republican proposal.

"We are deeply disappointed to learn that congressional leadership is failing to provide our farmers with the economic assistance they need to weather the crisis they are currently facing," Boozman and Thompson wrote. "Last night Republican leaders offered Leader Schumer and Leader Jefferies a $12 billion economic aid package for our nation's farmers, which they rejected. It appears that congressional Democrats have not learned the lessons of the most recent election and continue to neglect the needs of rural America."

Boozman and Thompson added, "The failure to include economic assistance will have devastating and lasting consequences on our farm families, the rural communities in which they live and American agriculture. For that reason, we intend to oppose any supplemental spending package that does not provide meaningful assistance to our farmers. Our farmers work too hard and risk it all each year so we can have the safest, most abundant, and most affordable food supply in the world. They deserve our help now."

Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee, and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, also released a statement pushing back on the GOP narrative.

"For weeks, congressional Democrats have provided a pathway to a farm bill extension that will deliver tens of billions of dollars in economic assistance and investments in farm bill programs that farmers rely on," Scott and Stabenow stated.

The two Democrats noted Republican leaders turn down their proposal $10 billion proposal, "rejecting needed economic assistance and increased conservation spending for decades. It is important to stress that this proposal is paid for and does not take any funding away from the critical natural disaster aid that has been requested."

Scott and Stabenow added, "Their eleventh-hour offer fell short of what farmers need, shortchanged critical farm bill programs, and steals from critically needed assistance to address recent natural disasters. We can and should do both economic and disaster assistance, not pit one against the other. The coming onslaught of farm foreclosures and retirement sales is on the Republican Leadership."

Duvall, in a statement, criticized Congress for failing to come together on a deal. "At a time when farm income is in a downward spiral and costs are rising, it's unacceptable for Congress to turn its back on farmers," Duvall said in a statement. "Farmers don't get to set the prices for their goods and right now those prices don't even come close to covering their costs. We lost 141,000 farms in five years and if Congress fails to include economic aid for farmers, the sad reality is that we'll lose more."

Duvall added, "Our whole country will suffer the consequences if Congress takes farmers and our food supply for granted. For this reason, 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. In truth, every elected leader who enjoys our affordable and abundant food supply represents agriculture, so I urge them to band together and ensure farmers are supported."

Cash receipts for crop producers hit a record $300 billion in 2022, according to USDA net farm income forecasts. But cash receipts for crop farmers have fallen $54 billion in the past two years. A survey of agricultural bankers released in November showed roughly four out of ten farmers borrowing from banks are not expected to make a profit in 2024. The bankers also expected that the number of farms in the red would increase next year.

Earlier in the week Democrats proposed moving the roughly $14 billion or so in remaining conservation funding from the IRA into the baseline for the farm bill. That created a $10.7 billion one-time saving that Stabenow pitched as a plan for economic aid to farmers. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., rejected that offer, saying the House Republican caucus opposes rolling the IRA dollars into the farm bill.

The initial House Agriculture Committee farm bill -- and talks throughout the year on the farm bill -- had included plans to roll the IRA dollars into the farm bill baseline. The House Ag Committee bill cleared the committee last May but was never brought to the floor for a vote.

Also see, "Farm Bill Extension Stalls as Republicans Oppose Using IRA Funds for Aid to Farmers," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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