House Ag Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson defended his proposal for funding the farm bill as he reiterated to agricultural reporters Tuesday his plan to move the legisltion by Memorial Day.
Thompson, during a press conference for members of the National Association of Agricultural Journalists, rattled off some of the broad description of his latest farm bill plan: keeping Inflation Reduction Act conservation program dollars in Title II programs and utilizing Commodity Credit Corporation funding to support a "robust farm safety net."
"Anyone who criticizes our funding framework is either ignorant of the details or being disingenuous," he said.
Thompson, R-Pa., published an opinion piece in Agri-Pulse on Tuesday defending his plan to reestablish of a "cost-neutral process" for the Thrifty Food Plan, which he said would consider "food prices and composition, consumption patterns, and dietary guidance." He said during the press conference that the plan "creates a firewall" preventing administrations from "arbitrarily" shrinking or expanding benefits.
Thompson also indicated he would be including in the farm bill a scaled-back alternative to the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act. The EATS Act — which previously garnered support from pork-state lawmakers, but opposition from many Capitol Hill Democrats and states' rights advocates — would bar states from regulating agricultural products produced or manufactured in other states.
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Thompson said the new proposal "respects states' rights."
"We will be addressing Prop 12 within the farm bill," he said. "It won't be the EATS Act. It will be very respectful of states' rights and states deciding within their borders what their agricultural practices are."
Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.Thompson said the committee will likely release a draft of the farm bill three to five days before the panel's markup. When asked about getting Democrats to support the proposal in committee, he said he believes the "odds are pretty good."
"I think after this point, it really is up to individual members, and specifically, the ranking member, [David Scott of Georgia]. And we're trying to keep the ranking member informed and I know he's worked with his members, so we'll see at the end of the day. It's their decision to make."
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., told the ag reporters that no timeline has been set for moving the Senate's version of the farm bill.
"We're working together on a number of fronts," she said. "Of the 12 titles in the farm bill, we have over half of them where we've gotten substantial bipartisan agreement and been able to predominantly bring those together. We're still working on the rest of it, so we'll move once I know that we can actually get this done."
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