In the proverbial “good news, bad news” vein, it’s official that there will be no Farm Bill this year.  The lack of certainty about the status of agriculture and food programs for the next 5 years is bad news … but the additional time to fight for urgently needed changes to those programs means the good news outweighs the bad!

What is the new timeline?  All four leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees pushed for a full one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill. The new Speaker of the House inserted an extension provision into the stopgap funding measure he unveiled last weekend.  While the stopgap bill only funds most government agencies until February 2, avoiding a government shutdown, the added provision authorizes current Farm Bill programs for a full fiscal year, through next September.

This move was controversial, particularly among conservative Republicans who wanted to see cuts in food stamps and similar programs as a prerequisite for any extension.  But the stopgap funding bill passed both the House and the Senate yesterday, and is now heading to the President’s desk.

What’s next for us?

More work!  We’ve slowed down on the action alerts asking you to call your Congress members about the PRIME Act and other provisions while Congress was in turmoil over the timing of the Farm Bill and funding issues. We are gearing right back up to push for important changes to what will now be the 2024 Farm Bill.  Stay tuned!