Johnson’s precarious farm bill extension dance

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QUICK FIX

— Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a stopgap measure to avert a government shutdown that would extend the farm bill through the next September. But some House GOP hardliners are bristling at the move.

— The stopgap would keep the Agriculture Department funded through Jan. 19, the earlier of the two deadlines in the House Republicans “laddered” continuing resolution.

— FIRST IN MA: House Ag member Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.) and a group of lawmakers are pressing committee leaders to increase broadband access via the farm bill for historically Black colleges and universities, and tribal colleges and universities.

— Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) told MA she isn’t interested in filling the vacant presidency of her alma mater Michigan State University after she retires next year.

HAPPY MONDAY, Nov. 13. We’re your hosts, Meredith Lee Hill and Garrett Downs. Send tips to [email protected] and [email protected], and follow us at @Morning_Ag.

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Driving the day

FARM BILL EXTENSION: Congress is taking steps to stave off a catastrophic year-end cliff for key farm and food aid programs, with lawmakers far behind on reauthorizing a new farm bill this Congress. After pressure from dozens of ag district Republicans, Johnson angered a swath of House GOP hardliners by inserting a deal to extend the current 2018 farm bill in the new stopgap funding measure he unveiled this weekend.

Buckle up: Johnson’s plan is hitting serious resistance with only a few days left ahead of the looming government shutdown Saturday.

Leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees brokered the deal to extend the farm bill through Sept. 30, 2024.

“As negotiations on funding the government progress, we were able to come together to avoid a lapse in funding for critical agricultural programs and provide certainty to producers,” the four Agriculture Committee leaders said in a joint statement Sunday. “This extension is in no way a substitute for passing a 5-year Farm Bill and we remain committed to working together to get it done next year.”

What’s in the extension: The extension is fully paid for with internal Agriculture Department money and a separate pot of biorefinery funding.

Democratic and Republican negotiators decided to fund all the roughly 20 farm bill programs that will need extra money to stay afloat in the coming year. House Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) had cautioned against making too many additions to any extension for fear that it would trigger backlash from ultraconservatives.

In a text message to House Ag GOP members, Thompson said the deal “is the result of a battle” that “will fund the orphan programs, however using an orphan program - the Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical, and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance Program - as the offset.”

“It also limits other plussed-up spending being sought by Senate Democrats,” Thompson added.

Johnson, for his part, sought to downplay the inclusion of the farm bill extension when he walked House Republicans through the plan during a conference call this past Saturday. The new speaker said the stopgap measure contained “de minimis” farm bill provisions that needed to be extended, per two GOP lawmakers on the call, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations.

Hardliner view: GOP hardliners, eager to leverage the massive farm bill reauthorization to score wins for ultraconservatives, are bristling at attaching a one-year extension of the current 2018 farm bill to any House GOP government funding plan.

The farm bill extension inclusion in the larger government funding stopgap could complicate the extension’s passage on the floor, and it will guarantee that Johnson will need to rely on a significant number of Democratic votes to get the package across the finish line before current funding runs out Friday.

MA asked House Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry (R-Pa.) late last week about GOP leaders eyeing attaching the farm bill extension to this funding measure.

Perry said of Johnson’s government funding plan: “We’re looking for reasons to vote for it.”

A wide swath of Republicans have told MA in recent days that they don’t want to pass up on the chance to push for major spending cuts and other efforts to rein in the country’s largest anti-hunger program. Along with other nutrition programs, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, makes up 85 percent of the entire farm bill spending.

Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), a Freedom Caucus member, recently told MA that if a farm bill extension “without … any reforms to SNAP” was in the short-term government funding measure, he would vote against the plan.

Other GOP hardliners have signaled similar distaste for such a move, including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), the lead rebel in former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster earlier this fall.

“Yeah I think we should deal with those questions separately,” Gaetz said.

Shortly after Johnson unveiled his plans, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) quickly posted that he would oppose it, in part citing “no reform” in the farm bill extension.

Rules first: The CR and farm bill extension’s first test will come on Monday when the House Rules Committee meets to debate the package. The committee needs to rubber-stamp a rule before the legislation can be considered on the floor.

Already, some Republican Rules Committee members are opposing the legislation. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), who sits on the committee, said in a post on X that his opposition “cannot be overstated.”

APPROPRIATIONS SEASON

TAKE NOTE ON APPROPS: Johnson’s proposed CR is “laddered,” meaning it creates two separate deadlines for two pots of spending bills.

The bill to fund the Agriculture Department and Food and Drug Administration, which is all but dead in the House, falls under the shorter deadline of Jan. 19. Multiple other spending bills would expire on Feb. 2.

House Dems balk: Prominent House Democrats are balking at the proposal. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, hammered the plan in a scathing statement on Sunday saying it would “double the number of shutdown showdowns.”

Senate Dems say maybe: Some Senate Democrats, however, are keeping the door open to the laddered CR.

WIC funds excluded: The proposed CR does not include any additional funds for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

The White House and congressional Democrats pushed for a $1 billion supplemental to be added to meet growing demand for the program, and its exclusion is sure to rankle much-needed Democratic support for the CR.

FARM BILL BATTLES

SLIDING FARM BILL TIMELINE: Johnson’s ambitious floor schedule, in which he targeted December for the House to pass its version of a new farm bill, is already slipping. Ag Chair Thompson told reporters Wednesday that the December timeline was no longer possible as the committee races to hammer out its draft after a series of delays. The move only adds more urgency to passing the extension in the CR, according to lawmakers.

Broadband Land

BROADBAND ACCESS IN FARM BILL: House Ag member Jackson is leading a letter to Thompson and ranking member Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) to press for increased broadband access for historically Black colleges and universities, and tribal colleges and universities in the farm bill.

In the letter, Jackson and a group of lawmakers write: “Using the authority given to USDA under the Rural Development title, we urge you to consider language in the Farm Bill reauthorization that prioritizes communities that include HBCUs and TCUs for broadband funding.”

House Ag Committee members Reps. Alma Adams (D-N.C.) and Shontel Brown (D-Ohio) are listed as cosigners, among others.

According to the federal government, there are about 102 accredited HBCUs and 32 accredited TCUs in the United States. But 82 percent of HBCUs are located in “broadband deserts.” Internet speeds at accredited TCUs are also significantly slower than at other four-year institutions.

While there’s billions in federal funding now available for broadband access, the lawmakers are pressing for “separate, but complementary, programs addressing the digital divide experienced by HBCUs and TCUs” in the upcoming farm bill, according to a press release.

“Passing a bipartisan Farm Bill with these provisions included will not only send a strong message of support to historically marginalized communities and the higher education institutions within them, but will also help unlock billions of dollars in economic activity for Blacks, Native Americans, and other underserved groups,” the lawmakers write.

THE SENATE

STABENOW’S PLANS: After much speculation about her future plans, Stabenow (D-Mich.) told MA she isn’t interested in filling the vacant presidency of her alma mater Michigan State University after she retires next year.

But Stabenow told MA she didn’t have any plans to seek the role, even after she leaves Congress.

“That is not what I would call it retirement,” Stabenow told MA.

Remember: The senator said in an interview with POLITICO the day she announced her retirement that she was looking forward to spending more time caring for her elderly mother.

Row Crops

— The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association wrote a letter in opposition to a USDA proposal to allow imports of beef from Paraguay.

— California farmers are reeling after the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and the removal of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as speaker, with their political sway significantly blunted, our Camille Von Kaenel writes.

— Lanon Baccam, a Democrat and former senior USDA official, will challenge Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) in Iowa’s swingy third district, from Iowa Public Radio.

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