Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) is making a last-ditch effort to get a farm bill done by the end of the year.
Stabenow released text of her version of the farm bill this week, embracing some aspects of the House GOP’s legislation while largely sticking to the framework she laid out in the spring. Stabenow’s bill also comes after pressure from her Democratic colleagues that the retiring senator needed to put something on the table.
Time is running out, though. Stabenow said she had to see “willingness” from her Republican colleagues to pass a bill before agreeing to a committee markup. Stabenow plans to talk with the four corners about the path forward, she said during a pen-and-pad briefing with reporters.
“Now it’s up to my Republican colleagues to respond,” Stabenow said.
The top Republican on the panel, Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), already bashed Stabenow’s bill, calling it a partisan proposal that was released too late.
Not all Democrats fell behind Stabenow’s proposal, either. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) told us he’s “still reviewing the bill.”
The House: House Democrats have long been privately expressing frustration toward Stabenow, though she put out an extensive framework earlier this year.
Several frontline Democrats also raised concerns about the possibility of kicking the farm bill to next year when President-elect Donald Trump could have more influence over a Republican-written bill.
The current bill, which passed the committee in May, was backed by four House Democrats. However, Ranking Member David Scott (D-Ga.) and the majority of House Democrats have raised issues with the GOP-led bill over proposed cuts to SNAP and other social safety net programs. Those could be even larger under Trump and a GOP-run 119th Congress.
House Agriculture Committee Chair GT Thompson (R-Pa.) has been meeting with Democrats on the House floor to discuss his willingness to move a bill.
“Every day that goes by makes it harder for our farmers and ranchers,” Thompson told us.
Thompson will meet with Speaker Mike Johnson this week, though a firm date has not been chosen. He and Stabenow held a call earlier this month to talk about a lame-duck strategy.
Johnson is under pressure by the majority of his conference to put a farm bill on the floor. But the speaker is expected to run into issues with his right flank, which is unlikely to back the measure, meaning he’ll need Democratic support to pass the package.
