For those hoping seeds of compromise had sprouted since the House Agriculture Committee last discussed the stalled five-year Farm Bill in September, Wednesday’s six-hour hearing offered scant sign such accommodation has taken root.
In a nutshell: Republicans back chair Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson’s (R-Pa.) evolving plan to decrease Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Plan (SNAP) funding by $30 billion over 10 years, and “repurpose” $19.5 billion earmarked for climate change and renewable energy conservation programs into tax credits and incentives for commodity farmers and producers.
Democrats, in short, do not.
And that is that: Four months later, neither side has budged.
The proposed Farm Bill, filed as HR 4368, the Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, is a massive slate of legislation adopted every five years to fund farm commodity, nutrition, and conservation programs….