The Senate farm bill remains stalled over a dispute over SNAP provisions. Democrats are seeking more time before new requirements tied to state error rates take effect. Meanwhile, Republicans argue farmers shouldn’t be held responsible for problems they don’t control. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman says Republicans have already offered more time, and they’re not willing to go much further.
“It’s very difficult, was very difficult to strike the deal that we got. As far as going further with the Democrats simply trying to blackmail us, the answer is no. Every time we have a farm bill, every time we have a bill concerning farmers now, they’ll bring up some unrelated event and then try and say, well, you know, we’re not going to do that, even though it’s the right thing to do, unless you give us this or that. I mean, this is really what bothers me with government holding people hostage that don’t have anything at all to do with the problem. No farmer has any control over state error rates. A lot of our farmers, sadly, are eligible for the SNAP program. But, again, like I said, this is not their problem; it’s ours.”
He says he understands why farmers are frustrated with Congress, especially as producers face growing financial pressure. He says lawmakers need to keep that pressure in mind as they work to finish the farm bill.
“I would ask them to look at the vote and see who voted for what, who’s been voting for what. Republicans have consistently, unanimously supported this, and I’m very proud of that. We kept our members together. And the good news is, what do you keep them together? I mean, they’re together. They want to get this passed. And then also, you know, they’re very willing to help the states with their problem. On the other hand, they’re not as willing to go as far as the Democrats want, and I think very, very rightfully so.”
Boozman says Republicans are willing to keep talking, but he sees little support within his conference for giving Democrats additional concessions.
“What they’re concerned about exclusively is this error, I think. That’s got them fixated, and they’ve got themselves, I think, in a bind saying that they just have to have two years. We got some indications as we were negotiating that a year would be okay. I worked really hard to get them a year, along with our leadership, because I realized as I got into this that there were some inequities, there were some things that we needed to work out. But a year is plenty of time.”
He says that one-year extension would give states time to address their error rates, especially because the new requirements would not take effect until 2029.
With the Senate now set to return in September, the question is whether lawmakers can find enough common ground to move the farm bill forward.
“No, we’re going to come back in September, probably early in the week. We might wait a day or two just to make sure all of our members are back. We had some issues with that. Senator McConnell has gone home to rehab. He called me the day before the hearing. We had a nice conversation. So there’s the possibility that he’ll be back. Senator Tuberville had an issue that he had to deal with. He’ll be back. It doesn’t need to be that it’s a party line vote. We will come back, and the way I left it, that we didn’t adjourn, make it such that we can come back. And then we can bring it back up and vote on it probably on a Tuesday in September since we get back.”
Senator John Boozman chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry.