WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Congress needs to pass the latest edition of the country’s sweeping agriculture law this year.
However, a debate over funding for nutrition programs, including SNAP, is trapping the farm bill in limbo.
“If you don’t take care of the farmers, it just doesn’t work,” said U.S. Sen. John Boozman, (R-Ark.), the top Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
Boozman warns it’s growing harder for farmers across the U.S. to make a living.
“The things that help them manage their risk simply aren’t working,” he said.
That’s why Boozman wants to include better safety nets, the programs that provide risk protection and income support to farmers, in the bill.
“Borrow the money that they need to keep going and continue to give us the cheapest, safest food supply of anybody in the world,” Boozman said. “We take that for granted.”
Senate Democrats argue much of the proposed $1.5 trillion bill focuses on the wrong things.
“It invests hundreds more millions of dollars in commodities where there’s nothing for fruits and vegetables. Nothing,” said U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, (D-N.Y.). “It’s pretty terrible.”
Gillibrand also worries about potential GOP funding cuts to nutrition programs for low-income Americans.
“They want to cut SNAP benefits by $30 billion,” she said. “So, you can just imagine how many people would go hungry with that kind of cut.”
However, Boozman doesn’t see the proposal as a cut, noting SNAP funding has increased 85% since the last farm bill in 2018.
“There is a limit to the amount of money that we can push into that program,” he said.
An extension of the 2018 Farm Bill expires at the end of September. Lawmakers may first have to pass another one before agreeing on a full 2024 farm bill.
