AGRI PULSE: Craig urges Senate Democrats to ‘hold the line’ on farm bill

The top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee is hoping her Senate colleagues will push for a farm bill that reflects more of her party's priorities, urging lawmakers to “hold the line” for a more bipartisan bill.

“I would say to my Senate colleagues – I hope my colleagues in the future – that they really should hold the line for a bipartisan product,” Rep. Angie Craig, who is running for Senate in Minnesota in November, told reporters Wednesday.

Craig argued that just 10% of House Ag Committee Democrats’ asks were included in the farm bill text. And while some amendments were approved in the markup last month, she said the bill, which could come to the floor this week, is not a reflection of a bipartisan process.

“That is not working in good faith, in bipartisanship,” she said. “I believe that the Senate version of a farm bill can be much, much better, and that's what I am fighting for here.”

Seven agriculture committee Democrats voted with Republicans to help the farm bill advance to a floor vote. Committee Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., believes it will draw at least 10 additional Democratic votes when it comes to the floor.

“I’m sure it’ll be more than seven,” Craig acknowledged.

The Rules Committee on Tuesday voted to allow consideration of several bill amendments on the House floor, including a proposal to strip language from the farm legislation on pesticide-labeling that critics argue is a gift to large chemical companies. How that amendment vote goes could determine how many Democrats back the final bill, Craig said.

Whether the amendment passes could also dictate the strength of Republican support. The attempt to remove the pesticide provision has bipartisan support, underscoring tensions between the Trump administration and the Make America Healthy Again movement that wants more oversight of agriculture chemicals.

The administration is siding with crop science giant Bayer in a Supreme Court case in its argument that federal pesticide labeling laws should preempt state regulations. Federal preemption would be enshrined into law in the House farm bill proposal. 

Craig stressed that even if the farm bill passes the House, she is hopeful that the Senate will send back a more palatable version for Democrats.

“I continue to believe that, if Democrats hold together, we can get a bipartisan farm bill. But it's going to take a little bit of patience and a hell of a fight ahead of us,” she said.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman, R-Ark., has signaled that the Senate could mark up its own farm bill in the coming weeks.

Any bill that makes it to the Senate floor, however, would need the support of at least seven Democrats to overcome the filibuster. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the top Democrat on the Senate Ag Committee, has already said that she wants to use the bill to delay requirements that states will begin paying a share of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in line with their error rates on the program.

Boozman says he would not accept a delay to the cost-share, however.

“I'd love for the Senate to send us back a farm bill or end up in a conference committee with a farm bill that I could whip every Democrat ‘yes’ on,” Craig added. “That is my dream here. It may be a pipe dream, but I'm going to keep working toward it.”

Craig made clear Wednesday that although she is a ‘no’ on the farm bill, she plans to vote for a separate measure to allow for year-round sales of higher ethanol blends, known as E15.

The proposal had originally been an amendment to the farm bill, but lawmakers broke it out into a separate bill Tuesday after the Congressional Budget Office said it would add billions of dollars to the U.S. deficit over the next decade.

The CBO estimate is getting pushback from biofuel groups. It stems from small refinery exemptions that would be granted under the Renewable Fuel Standard in the proposed E15 bill. The provision is backed by big oil refinery groups and opposed by independent refiners. 

The bill is not “my favorite bill,” Craig said, noting that a rival E15 amendment that does not deal with the RFS issue would have been cost-neutral, or even save the government money. Still, she said she would vote for the ethanol bill as it stands if it comes to the floor.

“I will vote for this, to be clear.”