Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.) said Congress should stick around next week to work out a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security rather than taking off on a scheduled recess.
“We should be around,” Budzinski said. “We’re expected to have a fully functioning government and be a part of helping to make that happen, so I think being around would help us hopefully accomplish that,” Budzinski said Thursday at a Punchbowl News summit on agricultural resilience.
Republicans and Democrats remain at a standstill over funding for the Department of Homeland Security and reforms to ICE. As TSA workers go unpaid and long airport lines dominate the news, lawmakers from both parties are pushing for a resolution before the two-week recess.
Agricultural economy. Budzinski said the farm economy is in a “full crisis” and farmers don’t have the markets to sell the record production they’re yielding.
“They don’t want direct payments,” Budzinski said. “They want to be able to farm for an economy that they can then sell what they’ve grown and be able to survive.”
Farm bill. Budzinski said she wants to vote for a farm bill, but added the recent version of the agricultural policy measure fell short in many ways, including on conservation and food and nutrition programs.
“Our growers need that safety net,” Budzinski said. “I just thought that the version needed and requires more negotiations, and didn’t really meet the mark.”
House Republicans advanced a partisan farm bill earlier this month, though it faces hurdles in both the House and the Senate. House Agriculture Committee Chair GT Thompson (R-Pa.) hopes it will get a floor vote after April recess.
E15. Budzinski called for year-round sales of E15 — gasoline blended with 15% ethanol — rather than just summer waivers. This was a huge issue in the House earlier this year in FY2026 funding negotiations.
Budzinski said allowing continued sales of E15 would bring certainty for farmers, whose crops are used to generate the ethanol for the fuel blend. Budzinski added that an E15 measure needs a sure legislative vehicle.
“I think the urgency of where the farm economy is right now, we just need to get this included in a moving vehicle,” Budzinski said, adding that she’s optimistic it could be added to a farm aid package.
Fireside chat. Steven Williams, executive vice president and vice chair, global chief commercial officer and corporate affairs at PepsiCo, and Katie Floming, vice president and operations manager of Neumiller Farms, discussed how important it is for companies to support farmers.
The two discussed the importance of agriculture to the country and how farmers are improving their practices through regenerative farming.
Expert panel. Steve Censky, CEO of the American Soybean Association, Neil Caskey, CEO of the National Corn Growers Association, and Kam Quarles, CEO of the National Potato Council, weighed in on the squeeze farmers are facing. They also discussed the benefits of regenerative agriculture and the importance of partnerships with private companies like PepsiCo.
Watch the full video here.
