Congressional leaders could finalize a stopgap spending bill this week that will likely include another one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill, but may lack a package of disaster aid and market relief for farmers.
Hardline GOP conservatives in the House oppose including emergency aid that’s not paid for with cuts in spending elsewhere in the federal budget.
“The House should consider only what is absolutely necessary right now to provide critical relief to hurricane victims and farmers, and pay for it with offsets from wasteful spending elsewhere in the government, then wait for President Trump to take office to better manage disaster relief,” the House Freedom Caucus said in a statement.
Delaying the funding decisions into 2025 could help ensure House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can hang onto his post in January and avoid the fate of his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who was ousted by GOP hardliners in 2023.
Johnson has already insisted that Congress punt final fiscal 2025 funding legislation for the government into 2025, which means that lawmakers need to pass a new continuing resolution by the end of next week. A CR that has been funding the government since FY25 started Oct. 1 expires Dec. 20.
Republican leaders of the Senate and House Ag committees have been pushing to attach to the CR assistance for farmers who have been affected by a downturn in commodity markets as well as aid for producers who lost crops or livestock to hurricanes and other natural disasters. The White House has asked Congress for nearly $100 billion in disaster assistance, including $24 billion for USDA.
“Every bit that we put off causes economic harm for the agriculture industry that's been impacted, really across the board, not just by the natural disasters, but just the economic challenges,” said House Ag Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa.
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As of late last week, no decisions had been by congressional leaders in terms of what is going to be attached to the farm bill extension, Thompson said. “There’s some tough decisions to be made,” he said.
Lawmakers from Georgia and Florida, two states hard hit by hurricanes, haven’t given up on getting disaster aid included in year-end legislation.
In a letter to leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday, Sens. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and Rick Scott, R-Fla.. said “both of our states have been heavily impacted by natural disasters over the last two years, leaving farmers and ranchers with decimated crops and wrangled infrastructure.”
The letter goes on, “As you negotiate a disaster supplemental package, we urge you to include sufficient funding to meet the needs of producers in our states.”
Arkansas Sen. John Boozman, the top Republican on the Senate Ag Committee, said Congress will pass the one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill “with the idea that we get this thing [a new farm bill] done absolutely as soon as possible” in 2025.
The 2018 bill originally expired in 2023 but was extended for one year.
“Without a good, solid, updated farm bill that takes inflation to account, so our risk management tools work, it's going to be really difficult for farmers to be able to get the financing that they need,” said Boozman, who is working to increase reference prices in the Price Loss Coverage program to reflect increased input costs.
PLC triggers payments to farmers for years in which the average market price falls below the PLC reference price.
Also this week, Senate Democrats will use a Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday to highlight President-elect Donald Trump's threat to carry out mass deportations of people who are in the country illegally. The hearing is titled, “How Mass Deportations Will Separate American Families, Harm Our Armed Forces, and Devastate Our Economy."
In an interview with NBC's Meet the Press, Trump said deportations will start with convicted criminals but will extend to other people who are undocumented.
"Well, I think you have to do it, and it’s a hard — it’s a very tough thing to do. It’s — but you have to have, you know, you have rules, regulations, laws. They came in illegally," he said.
Here is a list of agriculture- or rural-related events scheduled for this week in Washington and elsewhere (all times EST):
Monday, Dec. 9
Tuesday, Dec. 10
10 a.m. – Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, “How Mass Deportations Will Separate American Families, Harm Our Armed Forces, and Devastate Our Economy,” G50 Dirksen.
Noon – USDA releases the monthly Crop Production report and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.
Wednesday, Dec. 11
10 a.m. – House Budget Committee hearing, “Sounding the Alarm: Pathways and Possible Solutions to the U.S. Fiscal Crisis,” 210 Cannon.
Thursday, Dec. 12
9 a.m. – Farm Foundation webinar, “Tax Year 2025: Potential Impacts and Opportunities for Farmers and the Agriculture Sector.”
Noon – Cato Institute briefing, “Empowering the DOGE and Extending Pro-Growth Tax Cuts: How the 119th Congress Can Grow the Economy and Fix the Debt,” HVC-200.
Friday, Dec. 13
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