Governor Brad Little of Idaho and 16 other governors signed a joint letter on Monday pleading with Congress to extend the farm bill and to give the agriculture industry immediate financial support.
According to the letter, the country’s well-being is in jeopardy if significant assistance is not given quickly to our struggling agricultural sector.
Congress extended the 2018 farm bill until the 2024 fiscal and crop year after failing to reauthorize it on the usual five-year schedule in 2023. The farm bill was last enacted in 2018.
A new farm bill, which provides funds for food and agricultural programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, was not passed by Congress during the regular session of 2024. Before the final parts of the extension expire at the end of the year and new members are sworn in on January 3, U.S. lawmakers are currently debating whether to enact another extension of the bill or rush to finalize a new version during the lame duck session.
Instead of extending the out-of-date 2018 measure for another year, the coalition of Republican governors is requesting that Congress enact a new version of the huge bill.
According to the letter, farmers are now forced to labor under an unworkable framework as a result of the present farm bill.
Governors claim that the agriculture sector is severely hampered by excessive borrowing rates and inflation.
The governors cited a number of significant challenges the industry has encountered since the 2018 farm bill expired, including inflation, high input costs, high loan rates, natural catastrophes, and agricultural trade deficits.
As farmers continue to face changing problems in today’s agricultural landscape, another year-long extension will leave them operating under an antiquated plan, the letter stated.
A revised version of the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act from earlier in the year was released in mid-November by U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, who chairs the Senate committee on agriculture, nutrition, and forestry. If approved, the amended bill could be used as a new farm bill.
According to its summary, the improvements include $39 billion in new resources for rural communities, SNAP-eligible families, and farmers.
U.S. Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas has called the plan “not a sincere or transparent effort to address the urgent needs of rural America,” and stories of House members rejecting it indicate that Republican lawmakers have not embraced it.
In their letter, the governors encouraged Congress to reauthorize the measure instead of extending it, fulfilling its duty to safeguard and revive the agriculture sector before it’s too late.
According to the letter, a nation cannot exist if it is unable to support itself, feed itself, or defend itself. Even though we have the world’s top farmers and ranchers in our backyards, it is crucial that the United States not become reliant on other nations for its food supply.
Governors Kay Ivey of Alabama, Sarah Sanders of Arkansas, Brian Kemp of Georgia, Brad Little of Idaho, Eric Holcomb of Indiana, Kim Reynolds of Idaho, Jeff Landry of Louisiana, Tate Reeves of Mississippi, Mike Parson of Missouri, Greg Gianforte of Montana, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Henry McMaster of South Carolina, Bill Lee of Tennessee, Spencer Cox of Utah, and Jim Justice of West Virginia are among the governors who signed the letter.
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