House Ag Democrats are doubling down on their ‘line in the sand’ against repurposing climate and SNAP funds for farm programs.
House Ag top Democrat David Scott in an op-ed first published by Agri-Pulse, writes Republicans continue to push “objectionable offsets.” But maybe, Scott writes “reading our views in black and white in the press” will help them understand “no means no.”
Scott made the same case last June at a House Ag hearing saying “We stand united against any efforts to take food away from children, families, or any vulnerable American in this farm bill or any legislation.”
Scott now argues that “raiding programs” backed by conservation, green energy and nutrition interests “does not achieve a bipartisan farm bill,” but “fractures” the urban-rural coalition needed to pass one.
And that has farm bill advocates concerned. American Farm Bureau’s Ryan Yates says, “I think you’re seeing lines in the sand…similar lines are being drawn in the Senate…that I think both sides are saying, here’s what we’re willing to do and here’s what we’re willing to give up—this is part of a process. And until those sides and those issues can be resolved, it will further delay action on a farm bill, unfortunately.”
Already delayed by other legislative fights and an election-year calendar. However, faced with a fixed farm bill budget, though a record sum, both sides are holding fast to their positions to either repurpose savings or somehow, find new funds outside the farm bill.
Story provided by the NAFB News Service/Matt Kaye/Berns Bureau Washington
