As the expiration date for the current Farm Bill grows closer, a vote by the full House of Representatives on the proposed replacement bill—H.R. 8467, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024—has not been scheduled by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) despite the Committee on Agriculture passing the bill on May 24, 2024.

The current Farm Bill—the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018—was extended through Sept. 30, 2024 when President Biden signed H.R. 6363, the Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024, on Nov. 16, 2023.

Nonetheless, while the “sunset” date of the Farm Bill extension is Sept. 30, 2024, the Democratically-controlled Senate has yet to introduce its version of the 2024 Farm Bill that Republican House members say is needed in order to negotiate a conference report between the two houses.

However, Republican Sen. John Boozman (Ark.), the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, said the Senate members of his party has produced a “farm bill framework” that meets the “varying needs” of “farmers, ranchers, foresters, consumers, lenders and other stakeholders,” and “can be used as the basis for a bipartisan path forward.”

In response, Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) criticized the Republican framework saying it “follows the same flawed approach as Chairman Thompson’s proposal in the House and splits the broad Farm Bill coalition. It makes significant cuts to the family safety net that millions of Americans rely on and walks away from the progress we have made to address the climate crisis. Similar to the House, the framework also appears to propose spending far in excess of available funding.

“A strong Farm Bill is one where all farmers benefit – not just the largest farmers or a handful of commodities,” Stabenow said. “The only path forward is to hold together the broad food and farm coalition that has always been the foundation of a successful Farm Bill. I look forward to working with Ranking Member Boozman and our partners in the House to finish our work by the end of the year,” she said.

Nonetheless, Ben Goldey, communications director for the House Committee on Agriculture, told The Driller the Republican controlled committee “urges the Senate to at the very minimum release the text of their ‘Farm Bill,’ so we (the House Committee) are able to negotiate a new bipartisan Farm bill. Chairman Thompson was able to bring together Republicans and Democrats to move this process forward and it’s time for the Senate to do the same.”

The House bill, H.R. 8467, contains several provisions that support water systems and water conservation programs. They are:

• Sec. 2403 extends through 2029 the grassroots source water protection program.
• Sec. 2405, the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act details federal assistance to local organizations; and to streamline regulations, policies and procedural actions that create barriers to timely assistance for the improvement of structures.
• Sec. 6401 provides funding for a network of roving water-technical experts (“circuit riders”) to support rural water, waste disposal, and wastewater facilities in all 50 States, including U.S. territories and freely associated states that work one-on-one with eligible rural water and wastewater systems in major assistance categories in order to help rural water systems operate effectively and efficiently and achieve long-term sustainability and compliance with certain Federal laws and requirements, including the Safe Water Drinking Act and the Clean Water Act.
• Sec. 6402 directs the Rural Utilities Service to continue a rural water and wastewater circuit rider program that is consistent with the activities of the program in operation before the date H.R. 8467 is enacted.
• Sec. 6403 provides zero and low interest loans for distressed water systems in order to promote the long-term sustainability and financial viability of eligible rural community waste disposal and water facilities.
• Sec. 6406 extends through 2029 the program supporting water systems for rural and native villages in Alaska.
• Sec. 6407 would amend Section 306E of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to support rural decentralized water systems by providing loans and subgrants for the construction, refurbishing, and servicing of individual household water well systems and individually owned household decentralized wastewater systems in rural areas that are, or will be owned by individuals eligible for such loans or grants, including private nonprofit organizations.
• Sec. 8204 seeks to protect rural sources of water by increasing fire breaks in forests and other wild-land vegetation from 3,000 acres to 10,000 acres.  

During the legislative process of major bills, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is required to review those bills—such as H.R. 8467—and issue a report showing how a piece of legislation would impact spending by the federal government as compared to current spending, typically over a ten year period. This estimate is known informally as a “score.”

The CBO summary of H.R. 8467 says the bill would amend and extend through 2029 some of the major programs for income support, food and nutrition, land conservation, trade promotion, rural development, research, forestry, horticulture, and other programs administered by the Department of Agriculture (USDA).

In addition, the CBO’s estimated budgetary effect of H.R. 8467 says the bill would increase direct spending by $15.4 billion during the period 2025 through 2029, and would increase direct spending by $33.0 billion during the period 2024 through 2033.

Stabenow reacted to the CBO’s report of the House Farm Bill saying, the “score from CBO shows once again that the House Republican proposal is not paid for and relies on magic math and wishful thinking. 

“To reach a bipartisan agreement, we need to have a real negotiation on how to pay for our investments in the Farm Bill. To do that, Republican colleagues need to join me at the negotiating table in a serious way.”

H.R. 8467, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024