The future of a new farm bill as well as spending on ag and nutrition programs are at stake as Republicans struggle to agree on a new House speaker this week.
The two declared candidates to succeed Kevin McCarthy as speaker, Minority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, come with longstanding conservative credentials, and both also recently voted for deep cuts in food aid and other programs.
Jordan, a co-founder of the hardline Freedom Caucus, represents a heavily agricultural district in central Ohio and has particularly vexed state farm leaders with his long-running opposition to farm bills and resistance to federal biofuel policy.
Both men supported a controversial amendment to the 2013 farm bill that would have significantly tightened payment limits on commodity programs; the House adopted the amendment but it was dropped in negotiations. During debate on the 2018 farm bill, Jordan also supported an amendment that would have gutted the federal sugar program. Scalise, who is from the sugar-growing state of Louisiana, opposed it.
The idea of Jordan “who has never voted for a farm bill potentially in the speaker's chair … should make farm country very nervous,” said one ag industry lobbyist who has experience battling Jordan in Ohio over biofuel and ag policy. The lobbyist spoke to Agri-Pulse on condition of anonymity.
But a senior Republican on the House Agriculture Committee who hadn't endorsed either candidate, Rick Crawford of Arkansas, described Jordan as “very pragmatic and open to ideas,” and that Scalise was “similar in that way.”
“I think that they're going to rely on leadership of people who do know these issues and help get us to a point where we can actually do that job,” Crawford said.
Scalise, who represents a district in the New Orleans area, also voted against the 2008 and 2014 farm bills but in contrast with Jordan supported the final version of the 2018 law after becoming a member of the GOP leadership. Scalise is a former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a more mainstream conservative group than the Freedom Caucus, which Jordan co-founded in 2015.
After a closed-door GOP conference meeting Tuesday evening, neither candidate had anywhere close to the support needed to win the race, according to lawmakers. The conference was scheduled to meet again Wednesday.
House Ag Committee Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson, R-Pa., said he was "fairly pleased with what I've heard in terms of their support for a farm bill" from Scalise and Jordan, but neither man has committed to a timeline. Thompson said that would be difficult in any case because of the uncertainty about government funding.
Ag Committee member Kat Cammack, R-Fla., told reporters she had raised concerns about the farm bill and disaster aid with the two speaker candidates but received no assurances. "The commitments have been very light when it comes to agriculture, unfortunately," she said.
Most of the 29 Republicans on the House Ag Committee, including Thompson and Cammack had yet to declare their support for a candidate as of Tuesday morning, according to a scorecard compiled by CNN reporters.
The exceptions included committee members Max Miller of Ohio, Mary Miller of Illinois, Barry Moore of Alabama and Ronny Jackson of Texas, who were backing Jordan.
Some Republicans, including House Agriculture Committee member John Duarte of California, were pushing to reinstate McCarthy, who was ousted last week when eight GOP members joined all 208 Democrats in voting to remove him. However, McCarthy indicated Tuesday evening that he didn't want to be nominated.
One of the undeclared House Ag members, Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, told Agri-Pulse that both Scalise and Jordan had talked last week with colleagues from agricultural districts. Feenstra didn’t provide any details of the conversations, but he indicated the farm bill and biofuel policy were among the topics discussed.
“The most important thing is how we can deliver results for agriculture. That's what I look at. That’s my number-one focus,” Feenstra said.
Crawford said McCarthy’s ouster was a “major loss” for ag policy, because of McCarthy’s interest in the issue. McCarthy’s district lies in the heart of California’s Central Valley and includes portions of Kern, King, Fresno and Tulare counties.
In a rarity for a speaker, he participated in a House Ag listening session, which took place at Tulare in February. He told reporters at the time he expected a farm bill to pass this year with Democratic support.
“One of the things I would say about Kevin McCarthy from an ag perspective is he got it. He was easy to talk to him about it, and he represents a district where that's important,” Crawford said.
Asked what he knew about Scalise and Jordan when it comes to ag policy, Crawford said that “one of the things that bothers me in general about about this place is that very few people know anything about agriculture. And it's one of the most pressing issues that we face today, not only from the standpoint of the farm bill, but also from the standpoint of the fact that food security is a national security imperative.”
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The Ohio Farm Bureau notably didn't endorse Jordan with their "Friend of Agriculture" designation in the 2022 election. In fact, his was the only district in Ohio for which the group didn't designate a friend of ag. The group did select two Democratic incumbents as "friends” – Shontel Brown and Joyce Beatty.
Still, Jack Irvin, Ohio Farm Bureau's vice president of public policy, issued a statement to Agri-Pulse complimentary of Jordan.
"Congressman Jordan’s door is always open when our members have concerns they feel he needs to be aware of. As he meets with his constituents at the local level often, he has built relationships with many farmers, which is important when representing a very rural district of Ohio,” Irvin said.
The ag lobbyist who spoke to Agri-Pulse said that while Jordan continued to vote against farm bills, he did eventually show up at the opening of at least one ethanol plant, which the lobbyist considered progress.
“I was like, we moved the needle somehow, something happened that we actually got him to acknowledge that this was a good thing,” the lobbyist said.
But a farmer in Jordan's district who has met with Jordan and his staff numerous times said it has been impossible to get him to support legislation important to the sector. "If it costs money, he's not going to vote for it," the farmer said.
Jordan has had his limits when it has come to reforming farm programs. In 2018, he and Scalise voted against a sweeping amendment that would have phased out all ag subsidies. The amendment failed, 34-380.
The ongoing GOP turmoil is throwing into question whether and when Congress can agree on fiscal 2024 spending legislation, and that uncertainty could keep a farm bill on hold for the foreseeable future.
A stopgap spending bill that is currently funding the government expires Nov. 17. A government shutdown could occur Nov. 18, unless House Republicans can overcome their intraparty divisions to agree on another continuing resolution.
“No doubt this completely screws up the future of the farm bill,” Bill O’Conner, a lobbyist and former top GOP aide to the House Ag Committee, said of the uncertainty surrounding the GOP leadership.
O’Conner said it’s going to be difficult for the next speaker to do what ultimately got McCarthy ousted, moving a bipartisan continuing resolution to keep the government open.
“Unless everyone has a sudden come to Jesus moment after dethroning the speaker, it is hard to imagine a new speaker who wants to keep the job repeating McCarthy’s move on funding legislation,” O’Conner said.
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