The chairwoman and ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee disagree over tapping billions of dollars from a health, tax and climate law to expand baseline funding for the upcoming farm bill.
Ranking member John Boozman, R-Ark., has floated the idea of rescinding money allocated for the Agriculture Department in a 2022 law to give farm bill writers more funding for programs to help farmers and ranchers cope with higher production costs and high interest rates fueled by inflation. Supply chain problems also continue to cause uncertainty, Boozman said.
Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., has warned against moving the money, especially funds provided to help oversubscribed farm bill conservation programs meet demand and to expand the use of conservation practices focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The money is meant to augment farm bill spending but not be part of the farm policy law, she said.
