House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) unveiled the vision for the 2024 Farm Bill Thursday, drawing mixed reactions from some Democrats in agriculture leadership.
Agriculture Committee ranking member Rep. David Scott (D-GA) had a different reaction to Thompson’s legislation than his Democratic counterpart on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), did.
“The discussion draft released by Chairman Thompson today confirms my worst fears: House Republicans plan to pay for the farm bill by taking food out of the mouths of America’s hungry children, restricting farmers from receiving the climate-smart conservation funding they so desperately need, and barring the USDA from providing financial assistance to farmers in times of crisis,” Scott said.
In contrast, Stabenow made sure to praise the common ground Democrats and Republicans are finding in the massive $1.5 trillion piece of legislation.
“I’ve had several conversations with Chairman Thompson encouraging him to get his ideas on paper so that we can move this process forward,” Stabenow said. “I’m glad his committee released the Food, Farm, and National Security Act, and it appears that our visions for the 2024 farm bill have a lot in common.”
But Stabenow also said she was “deeply concerned” the proposal would “split the broad, bipartisan coalition that has always been the foundation of a successful farm bill.”
According to Politico, Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee may be looking to oust Scott as their primary negotiator on the bill. Instead, some are discussing bringing in Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), a senior Democratic leader who is the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, to replace Scott in what one lawmaker described as a “break glass option.”
The 2024 rendition of the Farm Bill is the 118th Congress’s latest quarrel over bipartisanship. Some of the cuts proposed in the bill use funds from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to direct subsidies to commodity farmers of rice, cotton, and peanuts. The proposed bill would also steer money away from climate change, with conditions of moving billions of dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act to the farm bill.
Stabenow said she made it clear on the Democrats’ side that they will not walk away from their “commitment to the most vulnerable among us or from our farmers battling the effects of the climate crisis every day.”
“The only path forward is holding together our broad coalition of farmers, hunger and nutrition advocates, rural communities, conservationists, and the climate community,” the senator said. “That has always been how we ensure that our country’s farmers, families, workers, and rural communities have the certainty of a bipartisan, five-year farm bill.”
“However, today is a positive step forward in this process, and I look forward to working with Chairman Thompson.”
While other Democrats on the House side acknowledged concessions and praised areas of agreement, Scott said he does not see a path toward passage due to some of its partisan nature.
“The funding proposal that the chairman has put forward does a disservice to American agriculture because it doesn’t provide a path forward to getting a bill passed on the House floor,” he said.
Rep. Glenn Thompson left several unnamed “critics” out of a statement Friday afternoon, commending a handful of members for working to move the first portion of the bill forward.
“Critics have wasted a lot of breath telling me what can’t be done, and last night the House Committee on Agriculture proved them wrong,” he said. “I want to commend Reps. Caraveo, Davis, Sorenson, and Bishop for their willingness to see through the hyperbolic partisan rhetoric and help advance the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024.”
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“I heard my Democratic colleagues loud and clear at markup, that there is a whole lot of common ground, and a few sticking points that can be resolved through conversation and negotiation. Great things can be accomplished when you don’t surround yourself with redlines, and I am eager to continue our work with whomever wants to come to the table,” Glenn Thompson said in the statement.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, Scott, and the House Agriculture Committee Democrats did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.