Will the long wait for a new farm bill end in Congress’s lame-duck session? Anthony Chergosky is an associate professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin. He talked about the possibility of a farm bill finally getting done.
“Yeah, the pathway to a farm bill in the lame duck is members of Congress being freed from having to worry about the election, being freed from the demands of the campaign trail, and being able to focus on bipartisan cooperation during one of the few moments in the political calendar where bipartisan cooperation can really happen, which is the lame duck period. Now, when it comes to the farm bill, that’s a really interesting one because the deal has frayed a little bit.”
He said the farm bill used to be an example of bipartisanship in Washington, D.C.
“The politics of the farm bill are incredibly interesting, where you have an agriculture interest in Congress, and you also have interests in Congress that really focus on the SNAP program. And over the years, there’s basically been a ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch your back’ type of political deal-making with the farm bill that’s enabled it to be a bipartisan measure with members of Congress from diverse ideologies and geographic bases supporting the farm bill. With the changes to the SNAP program, that type of deal or trade-off has frayed a bit.”
While he has “low expectations” in a lame-duck Congress, Chergosky still sees a path for the farm bill.
“When I say that I recommend people having low expectations for the lame duck, it is because a lot of members aren’t particularly motivated at this stage to have grand ambitions. So, if the farm bill happens, it would be a little bit of a surprise, but I can see a pathway where the immediate post-election period can open the way to bipartisan deal-making in a way that the heat of the campaign season does not necessarily lend itself to.”