A new Congress is back in session, and lawmakers have a list of their own priorities.
Farmers and ranchers want a five-year Farm Bill, but several areas, like SNAP, are still proving to be a sticking point.
“So this is an issue that will be addressed, perhaps in reconciliation. Food stamps, what we now call SNAP, is a significant component of the spending in the in the farm bill. We need more dollars for the things I just described, that are priorities for me in a farm bill. One of the things is we’ve set aside, additional dollars in eggs spending in 2024 that will carry over as baseline for spending in the farm bill in 2025. So that’s several millions of dollars, but we needm or are going tom the reps can try to address the issue of food stamp programs, nutrition programs in reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes. And if we can take care of those provisions in reconciliation, then when we get to a farm bill, we’ll be able to better address, bring Republicans and Democrats together to get a farm bill done,” said Senator Jerry Moran.
It is unclear how much progress will be made this month, with the Administration change less than two weeks away. NCBA is hoping for quick work and says there are a lot of issues they hope to see addressed within the first several months of Trump’s second term.
“And a couple of those are going to be border security and taxes. So with the House and the Senate both in. We’re looking for a lot of movement in those first 100 days. Keep in mind, we have a national debt, and I checked this last night. It looks like we’re close to about $36.3 Trillion in that national debt. On January 1st, the debt ceiling, you know, when the Treasury will start using extraordinary measures, and so with that backdrop in mind, versus going to be, they’re going to look at at budget reconciliation as a vehicle to move these two key policy areas and border security and taxes,” said Kent Bacus.
Bacus says he is also watching what Trump will do with the expiring tax credits from 2017. There have been large calls from the industry, warning a sunset would put even more hurt on America’s producers.
