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Balanced Reporting. Trusted Insights.
Friday, May 26, 2023
Work requirements remain in play in the debt ceiling negotiations between the White House and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. It’s still not clear which program might be affected, but President Biden has once again signaled that he might go along with some changes.
Former Rep. Charles W. Stenholm, a conservative Texas Democrat who was a leading architect of agricultural policy in the late 20th century, died suddenly Wednesday at his home in Granbury, Texas. He was 84.
House GOP appropriators proposed Wednesday to slash fiscal 2024 funding for USDA by one-third, in part by eliminating some climate-related funding, restricting Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s use of the Commodity Credit Corp. spending authority and expanding work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Congressional leaders are sounding some notes of optimism after a second meeting with President Biden over the debt ceiling. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy welcomed Biden’s decision to appoint administration officials to lead the negotiations from his side. “I think we set the stage to carry on further conversations,” McCarthy said.
The chief economist for Senate Ag Committee’s Republican staff says the Congressional Budget Office’s new farm program forecast does nothing to help lower the cost of making improvements in commodity programs that ag groups are seeking.
President Joe Biden is expected to sit down again early this week with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders as they continue negotiations on increasing the debt ceiling and GOP demands for spending cuts.
The Congressional Budget Office is increasing its cost projections for farm bill programs due to lower estimates for some future market prices The commodities expected to see significantly higher payments over the next 10 years than previously estimated include cotton and dairy.
President Biden and leaders of the House and Senate Ag leaders discussed the farm bill for more than an hour Thursday evening and agreed to meet again in the “not-too-distant future.” That’s the word from the top Republican on the Senate Ag Committee, John Boozman of Arkansas.
