As we have turned the calendar into 2024, there are question marks around a lot of key pieces of legislation that will have large impacts on the day-to-day lives of almost all Americans. The two bills that are causing the most angst is the spending bill and the Farm Bill. Both bills are facing opposition over their large price tags, at least from the conservative lawmakers. Many are asking for more cuts to what they feel are frivolous parts of the legislation, or at least more scrutiny of programs that some feel may be abused. In the Farm Bill, the areas being scrutinized have to do with nutrition titles and safety nets for farmers.
Conservatives have been trying to make cuts to nutrition titles and scrutinize the programs for any possible abuse for the last couple of Farm Bill cycles. The concern comes from the fact that these programs account for roughly 87% of the estimated $1.5 trillion dollar legislation. Republicans are asking their Democratic colleagues for a range of options, including asking them to look for spending cuts elsewhere to fund these programs, to cut some of the spending going into the programs, or to tighten the qualifications to get these kinds of assistance.
The challenge comes with the fact that when people are asking for help in feeding their families, those who make the decisions at the local and state levels don’t want to make these people wait in a vulnerable situation. Certainly, that is a sentiment that even though most are staunchly opposed to the nutrition programs has understood. Food security is often referred to as National Security. The general public is facing large increases in the cost of groceries to feed their families, and hard decisions are having to be faced.
Legislatively, the farm bill faces a challenge in the fact that we could see nothing getting done after August 1st when the summer break happens right before the heat of the campaign season. If we do not get a new bill, with new data sets guiding how these programs work, we are going to be in a rough way.
Iowa Senator Joni Ernst talks about how she views the situation with the Farm Bill. She says she is frustrated with the progress of it.
It’s hard to believe that we only have about six months to complete a Farm Bill in a comfortable amount of time. Anything after that will require a lot of schedule changes and frantic action.
