The lines are in the sand and the differences are glaring as we approach what could be one of the greatest exercises in futility the federal government has seen in quite some time. Of course, we are talking about the Farm Bill, which seems to carry all the optimism of a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest.
The House and Senate are under the control of opposing parties, and in this season of extreme divisiveness over everything from yearly budgets, to how the toilet paper is hung in the restrooms, nobody is expecting the House and Senate to come together on the already delayed update of the largest piece of food legislation. Republican and Democratic versions in the Senate and a House version already seeing partisan divide. In two months, the hope that they can come together in their own chambers, much less a conference committee between the House and Senate, is nothing short of a pipe dream.
Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) recently spoke about the almost hopeless situation surrounding the farm bill. He says that the Senate Democrat version put forth by Ag Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) will not do anything but handcuff farmers on what they can do to be profitable and sustainable.
It is also no secret that Chairwoman Stabenow is retiring at the end of the legislative session, which ends at the end of 2024. She has long said that she wants this bill to be her legacy. However, Senator Marshall says that the legacy of the historically bi-partisan leader of the Senate Ag Committee looks like straight partisan politics of someone expected to toe the line on the Biden Administration’s outspoken green referendum. A path that could jeopardize the efficiency of food production in this country.
We also know that 87% of the Farm Bill’s $1.5 trillion price tag has nothing to do with farming. Rather it is centered around the nutrition programs that have become a soapbox for partisan politics over the past few versions of the Ag bill. Both parties accuse the other of not caring either for the American taxpayer or the food insecure.
Time is running out for the farm bill in 2024 and we are only in June. If we don’t get this thing passed by the end of September, we will be looking at either an expiration or an extension of the current Farm Bill that is running on ten-year-old data and numbers. This is all because this do-nothing Congress is slated to take off for the whole month of August and do a lot more nothing. Then we will not likely see any representatives and a third of the Senate in the capital, because they are going to be out asking the American people for another chance to get nothing done.
Remember that when you get in the voting booth this fall, no matter which party you support.
