Statement of Chairwoman Stabenow on the Continuing Resolution

WASHINGTON (Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024) - Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, Monday released the following statement on Farm Bill and agriculture provisions in the Continuing Resolution.

"I am so pleased that we were able to secure much needed economic and natural disaster assistance for farmers across the country and that we did it without pitting one part of the Farm Bill against another.

"We should also celebrate that this agreement prevents a $1.5 billion cut to SNAP by extending protections to people who had their benefits stolen through no fault of their own. It invests in ag research by funding the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) and permanently funding 1890 scholarships, which are so critical to growing the next generation of ag professionals. It allows for the sale of year-round E-15, which is a critical market. And it fully funds all the popular programs used by farmers and rural communities that would run out of funding if we did not act.

"Unfortunately, there is one critically-important part that did not get into this package. I believe that it is political malpractice not to increase the funds available in the conservation title of the Farm Bill by bringing conservation and rural energy funding from the Inflation Reduction Act into the Farm Bill.

"Moving those resources would have made a permanent and lasting investment in popular conservation and energy programs while adding nearly $20 billion to the Farm Bill baseline and creating an additional $10 billion offset. This could have been used to increase economic assistance, as Democrats proposed, or it could have been invested in other Farm Bill needs. This idea had bipartisan support among the Committee leaders and would have greatly helped Congress write a new Farm Bill next year.

"Let me be clear. The $10 billion investment in economic disaster assistance that we agreed to is being paid for by increasing the deficit. It could have been fully paid for by using the $10 billion in savings from moving the conservation dollars into the farm bill baseline.

"While I am relieved that we reached an agreement, it's shocking that Republican leadership failed to support such a common sense and bipartisan proposal."

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