Democratic takeover could boost passage of farm bill

Farmers may be the first to benefit from forced cooperation in Congress brought on by the Democratic Party takeover of the House of Representatives.

Despite pledging during a visit to Spokane on August 9 to get the new farm bill passed by Sept. 30, House Agriculture Committee chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas, fell short of an agreement after negotiations broke down over GOP plans to require able-bodied adults ages 18 to 59 to work at least 20 hours a week or get training to qualify for food stamps.

Those proposed work requirements for food stamps, under what’s known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, brought negotiations to a halt in the House at the same time farmers across the country were dealing with uncertain markets as a result of tariffs put in place by the Trump Administration. A bipartisan version of the farm bill easily passed in the U.S. Senate, but it did not include the SNAP work requirements.

“We have been in Washington, D.C., every other month educating Congress about how important it is to have a farm bill and having one done on time,” said Michelle Hennings, executive director of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers. “Having a farm bill done provides certainty. At these times, (farmers) need certainty more than ever.”

With the new Democratic majority in the House, U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., currently the ranking Democratic member of the House Agriculture Committee, is poised to take over from Conaway as committee chairman in the next Congress.

Peterson told the Associated Press on Friday that he will push to pass the new farm bill even before the new Congress is sworn in January 3.

Congress traditionally enacts a comprehensive farm bill every five years, setting federal agricultural and food policy over that five-year period of time. While they farm bills include safety net programs for farmers, nutrition programs including SNAP are responsible for most of the spending.

Peterson indicated that he doesn’t want to wait to redo the current proposal given how hard farmers have been hit by low prices.

“The only thing I care about between now and the end of the year is getting this farm bill done,” Peterson said.

While U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, doesn’t sit on the Agriculture Committee, she invited Conaway and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to Spokane this summer to talk about farm issues. According to her spokesman, Jared Powell, McMorris Rodgers supports the SNAP work requirements proposed by Conaway.

“She thinks this is a great time for us to be encouraging people to get back in the work force,” Powell said.

President Donald Trump said at a news conference on Wednesday that he supports a version of the farm bill with the work requirements for persons to qualify for SNAP.

“Everybody wants it, the farmers want it, but the Democrats are not approving the farm bill with work rules,” Trump said. “We could have it very fast without the work rules, but we want the work rules in and the Democrats just don’t want to vote for that. So at some point, they’ll have to pay maybe a price.”

But Trump did not say whether he would veto any farm bill agreement that does not include them.

Powell, McMorris Rodgers’ spokesman, said the congresswoman wants the new farm bill to protect crop insurance, increase market access overseas for Washington-grown commodities and fund agricultural research.

Some programs could be shut down without congressional action, said Hennings, who raises cattle and farms wheat and hay near Ritzville.

The funding for Foreign Market Development and Market Access programs would come to an end without lawmaker intervention.

“Those two programs help with developing markets for commodities overseas,” Hennings said. “If this farm bill expires, Congress would have to make an extra effort to keep funding it.”

And without the new farm bill, new farmers would not be allowed to enroll in the Conservation Reserve Program, under which the government pays farmers annual rental payments for moving environmentally sensitive land out of production, she said.

“So, there are some loose ends that need to be taken care of right away if they don’t move and get this farm bill passed,” Hennings said. Her association “urges Congress to get this done as soon as possible to provide certainty for growers.”

Hector Castro, spokesman for the Washington Department of Agriculture, echoed the sentiments of Hennings about the importance of finalizing the farm bill.

“The farm bill funds a number of programs and initiatives that are very important to our state,” Castro said. “Even though the majority of the programs have been able to continue despite the expiration of the farm bill, we are hopeful we get an agreement by the end of the year.”

Castro said he was encouraged by the comments from Peterson, the likely incoming House Agriculture Committee chairman, about reaching a deal during the lame-duck session of Congress.

“It’s a good sign, but until agreements are finalized you just don’t really know what is going to happen,” he said. “There are still concerns … surrounding tariffs. These are still challenging times for the agriculture industry.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.