Two years is a long time. House Ag Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) flew all over the country, holding Farm Bill hearings. One way or another, Thompson just kept saying, “What do you need?” while he declared the Farm Bill would pass this year.
Now, Thompson only has 11 days to get the job done before the current Farm Bill expires, and the new farm bill is not yet written. Instead, right-wing Republicans are so busy shutting down the government as they demand cuts in Social Security and health care — health care like Medicare and Medicaid, that they don’t seem to have noticed that the Farm Bill is bread & butter in their rural districts.
Joe Outlaw, Texas A&M extension economist and co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center, believes this Congress’ hard-core conservatives will make it more difficult to pass one-off disaster aid legislation. In short, with conservatives in charge in the House, there will be no more aid like the $16 Billion Trump gave farmers after he started his trade war with China.
Tyne Morgan, AgWeb: Could It Be Two Years Before Farmers See a New Farm Bill? The Ugly Truth About the Fight Over Funding