Farm Bill Passes Out of Committee in the Senate with No New Changes for Organic

The farm bill passed out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on September 16, after failing to advance on August 6. What changed? All Republican members were present this time, allowing it to pass on a party-line vote of 12-11.

Nothing of substance changed, despite efforts from a few Senators. So, as we stated in a previous blog post, while the Senate farm bill includes some modest progress for organic, it leaves out several priorities essential to the long-term success of the organic sector. Since the bill needs 60 votes to clear the Senate, Republicans can’t pass it without at least some Democratic support.  

Democrats continue to oppose the bill because it does not include their request of a two-year delay before States must begin paying a share of SNAP benefit costs now covered by the federal government. Republicans have offered a one-year delay, but Democrats argue that isn’t enough time for States to prepare. Without a resolution of the SNAP dispute, the bill currently lacks a clear path to the bipartisan support needed to advance in the Senate.

What Now?

Normally, the clear next step is for the farm bill to be considered by the full Senate. Then the differences between the House-passed version and the Senate-passed version would be reconciled by a Conference Committee composed of House and Senate Committee members. The final Farm Bill Conference Report would then need to be passed by the House and Senate before going to the President’s desk for signature. 

None of that is happening before the mid-term elections in November, because the House has adjourned to go home to campaign and the Senate is soon to do so. So, it’s becoming clear that the “normal” process may not be used this year. If anything is going to happen on the Farm Bill, it will have to be during the “Lame Duck” session when Congress returns after the November elections, but before the end of the year.

The potential next-steps for Congress are:  

#1 The Standard Option

The Senate could take their Committee-passed bill to the Senate floor during the Lame Duck session and try to pass it. Because of the 60 vote margin needed to pass the bill, this approach is unlikely to succeed unless the Republicans reach an agreement to address Democrat’s concerns about the bill; or

#2 The Behind-The-Scenes Option

The Senate Republican leadership could decide to skip the Senate floor vote all together, and work behind the scenes with the House Ag Committee leadership to reconcile the differences between the House-passed bill and the Senate Committee-passed bill and then try to add that final Farm Bill version to a big year-end package of bills in December; or 

#3 The Throw-In-The-Towel Option

Congress could throw in the towel, and decide to extend the old 2018 Farm Bill for another year (as they’ve done for each of the past three years), to give themselves time to start over again next year, once the new Congress is in place. 

NOC’s advocacy continues

Rest assured, whatever path Congress chooses for the next steps on the Farm Bill process, NOC will continue pushing for the inclusion of key organic priorities in the final bill.  NOC’s Farm Bill Action Alert remains active and it’s not too late to write to your Senators about what matters most to you.

Click here for our previous coverage on the farm bill.