Farm Bill

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Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is encouraged by congressional talks aimed at getting a farm bill passed this year and urged lawmakers to be “practical” as they iron our disagreements over reference prices and nutrition assistance.

Leaders of the Senate and House Ag committees were featured at the annual Friends of the National Arboretum dinner Tuesday night in Washington – and both were separately expressing some optimism about getting a new farm bill yet this year.

Economists say that farm margins are likely to remain thin well into next year, despite expected cuts in interest expenses, creating a squeeze in farm income that has lawmakers debating some kind of aid package. 

Employers who use the H-2A program are seeking nationwide relief from a Labor Department rule that has already been enjoined in 17 states. 

A senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee said Monday lawmakers are considering attaching a package of farm income support to a farm bill extension that could be enacted at the end of the year.

House Republicans will force a vote this week on EPA’s new emission standards that critics say amount to a mandate for electric vehicles. Meanwhile, some staff-level talks continue on a possible new farm bill amid a continued sharp divide over how to fund it.

Former President Donald Trump, responding to a survey by the American Farm Bureau Federation, is throwing his support behind increasing commodity price supports and other assistance for producers. But Vice President Kamala Harris notes Trump proposed budgets that would have cut some farm programs. 

Leaders of the House and Senate Ag committees are working together to lay the groundwork for passing a farm bill before the end of the year. That’s according to a memo to House Ag Committee Democrats from the panel’s ranking member, David Scott of Georgia.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is making it pretty clear he has no plans to take up a farm bill this year. Schumer on Tuesday criticized House GOP leaders for omitting a farm bill extension from a continuing resolution that’s needed to keep the government funded after Sept. 30.

A handful of lawmakers who represent agricultural districts are locked in tight re-election races that determine control of the House next year. They include Iowa’s 3^rd District, held by first-term GOP Rep. Zach Nunn, who’s being challenged by a former USDA appointee with the backing of Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack.