By Leah Douglas
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee on Friday released a long-awaited draft farm bill that includes provisions to reduce spending on food aid for the poor and efforts to help farmers fight climate change, drawing opposition from calls on the Democrats.
Congress faces long odds to pass a farm bill this session as the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-majority Senate remain far apart. The bill is expected to cost $1.5 trillion over ten years.
The legislation, which funds nutrition, conservation and resource programs, is traditionally passed every five years. The 2018 law expired in September and Congress extended it for another year. Lawmakers could do that again if they fail to pass new legislation.
The bill presented by the House Agriculture Committee would cut spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which funds food benefits for low-income families, by $27 billion over 10 years, a committee staffer said.
The savings come from limiting the Department of Agriculture’s authority to update the costs of a sample grocery budget that underlies the calculation of benefits.
Anti-hunger groups have said they oppose any cuts.
The House bill would also repeal as much as $14.4 billion for climate-smart agricultural practices provided for in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. That money would be available for all conservation practices, a move Democrats and environmental groups have vowed to fight.
Democrat Debbie Stabenow, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has said the idea is “a non-starter.” The White House has also pledged to protect the funds.
A Republican committee staffer said the move would increase conservation funding for farmers in the long term and give states more control over how the money is used.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson plans to bring the bill to the committee for a vote on May 23.
Stabenow and fellow Democrat David Scott, ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee, said in a statement Wednesday that the plan would “split the broad, bipartisan coalition that has always been the foundation of a successful farm bill.”
The Senate Agriculture Committee released a summary of its version of the bill on May 1, but did not release the language of the legislation.
The two committees must reconcile their bills before sending the legislation to the full chambers for a vote. If it passes, President Joe Biden would have to sign it into law.
(Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Timothy Gardner and Cynthia Osterman)
