House Agriculture Committee Chair G.T. Thompson, R-PA, today released the initial text of the House’s farm bill. The committee will mark up the bill next Thursday, May 23.
NMPF is reviewing the bill language, which as we noted last week includes key dairy priorities such as restoring the previous “higher of” Class I mover; requiring mandatory plant cost studies every two years; updating the Dairy Margin Coverage program’s production history calculation; maintaining robust funding for conservation programs; and boosting funding for the Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development Program. The plan also includes language based on the NMPF-led SAVE Act to ensure protections for the use of common food names in global markets.
The measure reflects Republican objectives on some key areas such as conservation spending and nutrition program funding, where it differs from the Senate Democratic farm bill framework released two weeks ago. One difference is the House bill limits future updates to the Thrifty Food Plan, which serves as the basis for calculating benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Another contrast is that the House removes strict climate-smart requirements for the use of $13 billion in conservation funding from the farm bill baseline, whereas the Senate framework preserves the climate-smart requirements contained in the Inflation Reduction Act.
While Republicans and Democrats disagree over these broad funding issues, it remains to be seen exactly how next Thursda’s committee vote will play out. We will provide more information on the process over the coming week, including amendments that may be offered during next week’s markup.
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