EXCLUSIVE — A key agricultural coalition is launching another six-figure ad buy asking Republicans to keep a critical farming and manufacturing provision in the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” one of several policy areas the GOP is stuck negotiating as it works to deliver a finished product to President Donald Trump by July 4.

The “one big, beautiful” reconciliation package is dominated by conversations around the state and local tax cap and whether to repeal energy tax credits. But Our Ag Future, a coalition that includes the the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, is urging Republicans not to forget about preserving the so-called “duty drawback” in a new ad airing in two states and the districts represented by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Freedom Caucus chairman Andy Harris (R-MD), among others.

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“Duty drawback” allows United States exporters to receive a refund on certain duties, taxes, tariffs, and fees paid on imported goods that are later exported, destroyed, or used in products that are later exported. 

The House stripped tobacco companies of their eligibility under the drawback program in its version of the reconciliation bill passed in May, as the GOP sought additional savings. But the latest version of the Senate’s bill strips that language, thus reinstating tobacco companies’ protections.

Our Ag Future has argued that, if the House version went into effect, it would amount to a de facto tax increase of tens of millions of dollars per year on manufacturers and farmers, as they would not receive refunds for products such as cigarette paper, filters, and other components.

The organization’s newest ad, titled “Superpower” and shared exclusively with the Washington Examiner, urges congressional Republicans to “stand up for American workers and farmers” and “protect duty drawback.”

“Our country was built on hard work, in the soil and on factory floors,” the ad states. “But now, our economy faces global competition like never before. That hurts American workers and threatens our economic future. To ensure America stays a manufacturing superpower, we must protect those that got us here.”

The ad will air in South Dakota and Idaho, as well as in Louisiana’s 4th District (Mike Johnson), Ohio’s 4th District (Jim Jordan), and Maryland’s 1st District (Andy Harris). The ad will also play in Washington, D.C., Bedminster, New Jersey, and Palm Beach, Florida. It costs $250,000 and will run on TV and digital platforms.

This is the second ad launched by Our Ag Future. Its first ad, exclusively reported by the Washington Examiner, targeted North Carolina’s Republican Sen. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, asking them to oppose the repeal.

In early June, Tillis blasted the House bill for tucking in a “tax hike that would decimate North Carolina’s tobacco farmers.” 

“I stand with our hardworking growers and I’m pushing to get this hidden tax removed from the One Big Beautiful Bill,” Tillis said.

The policy change would directly impact North Carolina, which is home to over 800 tobacco farms and the headquarters for three United States cigarette manufacturers, per the Carolina Journal.

Whether the Senate’s reinstatement of the duty drawback text has enough support in the House remains to be seen. Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC) threw his support behind his home-state senator’s promise to remove the tax hike for tobacco farmers. 

But Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK) wrote in an op-ed last week that the House needs to eliminate the “double duty drawback loophole.” He called it a “scam” and claimed it forces taxpayers to foot the bill for foreign cigarette manufacturers.

“How are we ever going to get serious about any kind of big debt reduction if we can’t close obvious loopholes like this? This is the easy stuff; it’s a waste and abuse of our tax system and the taxpayer,” Hern wrote.

“It is laughably absurd to suggest something is a tax hike when Congress is simply closing a loophole so foreign companies stop getting a tax refund on taxes they don’t pay,” Hern added, seeming to target Tillis and Murphy’s characterization of the repeal. “True fiscal conservatives should reject this scare tactic. …We call on our colleagues in the Senate to stand firm, resist these special interests, and keep this critical reform intact.”

GOP’S THOM TILLIS AND TED BUDD PRESSURED BY AGRICULTURE SECTOR OVER TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’

Our Ag Future’s ad is the latest in a slew of outside lobbying efforts targeting lawmakers on Capitol Hill as Republicans work to pass the legislation through narrow majorities in the House and Senate. Johnson can only afford to lose three votes and still pass legislation along party lines. 

Congressional Republicans self-imposed a deadline of July 4 to have the package done, but the clock is running out as the reconciliation bill currently doesn’t have the support in both chambers to pass. Lawmakers have been notified that they may have to work through the weekend or possibly come in next week, despite the scheduled July 4 recess.