Ag Policy Blog

OMAHA (DTN) – A potential vote over the budget reconciliation bill of tax cuts, farm bill improvements and cuts to social programs got caught Wednesday with divisions among Republicans and Democrats stacking up debate time in a key committee.

The House Rules Committee opened a hearing just after midnight CDT on Wednesday to debate a slew of Democratic criticisms and more than 500 amendments that are all expected to eventually be rejected. The hearing continued non-stop into the late afternoon.

The "One Big Beautiful Bill," as named by President Donald Trump's description of it, cuts taxes by $3.78 billion over ten years, but also cuts roughly $1.2 trillion in spending on programs such as Medicaid and nutrition programs.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had originally planned for a Wednesday night vote on the budget package. Politico reported late Wednesday afternoon that Johnson was faced with making a decision on whether to bring the bill to the floor on Thursday.

The bill includes provisions boost the farmer safety net through both improvements to commodity programs and premium subsidies for crop insurance.

The Congressional Budget Office detailed farmer safety net provisions such as increasing reference prices under the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and boosting the bandwidth of Agricultural Risk Coverage would increase spending for those programs $52.3 billion over ten years.

Spending for USDA trade promotion programs would increase $2 billion over ten years.

Under conservation, the bill would increase budget authority by $3.2 billion, but actual outlays would decline by nearly $1.8 billion.

Also under agriculture, bill cuts spending for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $294 billion over ten years. The bulk of those savings, $128.3 billion, would come by requiring states to provide 5% to 25% cost share for SNAP benefits, depending on the state's error rate for payments. Tightening up work requirements in the bill for able-bodied people without dependents nationally would also cut $92.4 billion in spending over a decade.

Overall, the House Agriculture Committee's contributions to the bill cut spending by a net of $238 billion over ten years.

Rep. Glenn "GT" Thompson, R-Pa., chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, and Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., the committee ranking member, testified in opposition to each other before House Rules early Wednesday.

Craig got into a dispute over the farm bill with Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., a member of both the Ag and Rules committees. Scott pointed out only four Democrats backed a committee farm bill last year. Scott has long argued farm bill spending is too skewed towards nutrition programs.

Craig countered that 45 million Americans rely on SNAP while 1 million Americans rely on farm programs.

Scott then noted, "Those 1 million Americans provide 100% of the food for the American citizens," Scott said. He added, "Without the 1 million farmers in this country, there is no food for people with SNAP benefits to buy. That's all there is to that."

According to USDA, there are 41.2 million people on SNAP and there are also 1.88 million farmers.

Craig shortly later noted, "The gentleman from Georgia has one of the highest rates of SNAP households in the country and he is promoting decimating this program."

The social account on X for the House Agriculture Committee GOP highlighted the bill would reduce taxes on farmers by more than $10 billion over the next decade. The House Ag GOP also pointed out the bill "includes critical investments in the farmers and producers who feed and fuel this country."

Thompson also got into tit-for-tat with House Rules Ranking Member Jim McGovern, D-Mass., also a senior Democrat on House Ag, and one of Democrats' biggest advocates for nutrition programs. Thompson noted states would have two years to adjust their budgets and their cost share would be 5% if they could keep payment error rates at 6% or less. "States are fully capable of paying for SNAP," Thompson said.

Championing the work or volunteer requirements of 80 hours a month, Thompson said SNAP is not meant to be a permanent program for people. "I don't know how we guarantee a future if we keep children in inter-generational poverty," he said.

The bulk of lawmakers testifying as the day moved were rank-and-file Democrats who hammered on certain tax breaks and the impacts of cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.

"If you have a tanning bed, you get a little bit of a tax break. If you want a hospital bed in rural America, you are out of luck," said Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, D-N.M., a member of the Rules Committee.

Still, the fate of the One Big Beautiful bill rests with House Republicans whose different factions have led to splits. Republicans from high tax states appeared to have a deal to increase the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, which then raised complaints from the Freedom Caucus. Conservatives also pressed for more cuts to green energy tax credits and spending that were passed in the Inflation Reduction Act.

It appeared the 45Z Clean Fuels Production Tax Credit as of Wednesday remained in the package. Under the bill, the tax credit would be extended until the end of 2031. The bill also modifies the 45Z to prevent the use of certain foreign feedstocks, such as used cooking oil from China. Fuels for the tax credit under the bill would be limited to feedstocks produced or grown in the United States, Canada or Mexico.

The White House Office of Management and Budget laid out its support for the bill, declaring "President Trump is ushering in the new Golden Age of America." The reconciliation bill is pivotal towards achieving those goals. Along with the tax cuts, the White House championed new spending on border security and the military.

OMB also stated the bill includes $1.6 trillion in mandatory savings over the next decade and adds "commonsense" work requirements for people on SNAP and Medicaid. The OMB also said the House needs to pass the bill to show they are serious about helping President Trump keep his promises "and failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal."

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., known as a conservative thorn in leadership's side, took to X on Wednesday to question how the House could vote on the bill, noting ruling are supposed to allow 72 hours to read a bill.

"Major provisions of the big beautiful bill are still being negotiated and written, yet we are being told we will vote on it today. He added, "Shouldn't we take more than a few hours to read a bill this big and this consequential?"

See, "Farm Program Changes in Reconciliation," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Also see, Six Tax Changes Made for Farm Businesses in the 'One Big Beautiful Bill'

https://www.dtnpf.com/…

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

Follow him on social platform X @ChrisClaytonDTN

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