Inside the escalating funding and farm bill battles

With help from Marcia Brown

QUICK FIX

— The appropriations fight over a nutrition program for millions of low-income moms and their babies is reaching a fever pitch on Capitol Hill, as WIC faces a rapidly approaching funding cliff.

— Battle lines in the farm bill fight are hardening as House Ag Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) tries to rally moderate Democrats to his plans. So far, they aren’t budging.

— Is the poultry industry ready to comply with new transparency requirements?

HAPPY MONDAY, Feb. 12. We’re your hosts, Garrett Downs and Meredith Lee Hill. Send tips to [email protected] and [email protected], and follow us at @Morning_Ag.

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Driving the day

FIRST IN MA — WIC STRUGGLE: Democrats on the House Education and the Workforce Committee are making a full-court press to include additional WIC funding in the upcoming Ag-FDA spending bill.

The White House has requested more than $1 billion in emergency funding to stave off a funding cliff that could cut benefits and push eligible people onto waiting lists in the coming months.

Republicans in the House have pushed back on the extra WIC funding, and even sought deeper cuts to regular funding this appropriations season. In the past, WIC has been the most bipartisan nutrition program on the Hill.

What they’re saying: In a letter provided exclusively to MA, every Democrat on the committee urged House Speaker Mike Johnson, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, House Appropriations Chair Kay Granger (R-Texas) and ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) to meet the request — with warning of harsh consequences if it is not met.

“If Congress fails to include additional WIC funding, as many as two million

young children and pregnant and postpartum adults could lose access to WIC benefits entirely,” the lawmakers wrote.

“Any funding shortfall would force eligible new parents and children (predominantly preschoolers, toddlers, and postpartum adults) onto waiting lists and deny them vital nutrition benefits and WIC services that are critical for healthy development.”

Meanwhile in the Senate: Senate GOP negotiators are roughly targeting $700 million for a WIC boost beyond regular appropriations funding, according to two lawmakers, who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.

House Republicans will push for the lowest number possible, according to the two lawmakers. The biggest issue is still deciding which funding offsets to use to pay for the increase, according to the lawmakers. “We’re going to have to cut some ag programs,” one of the lawmakers added.

FARM BILL BATTLES

TROUBLED TALKS: As your hosts scooped, House Ag Democrats huddled privately last week to dig in against GOP efforts to repurpose key climate and future nutrition funding in the farm bill to boost wider conservation projects, farm commodity programs and key Democratic priorities.

Top House Ag Democrat, Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) and other key Democrats are trying to keep moderate members of their party from supporting the GOP plans. Though, House Democrats haven’t put forward any alternative funding plans.

Moderates’ challenges: So far, most moderate House Democrats have calculated it’s not worth the political backlash of publicly supporting the GOP plans at this point.

Some also note even if a handful or more of them do break from their party, it wouldn’t be enough to move a farm bill given a large number of Democrats that will likely be needed amid opposition from hard-right Republicans.

More than 130 Democrats will likely be needed to pass a farm bill if the legislation moves under suspension, as it’s likely headed, and Democratic leadership has pushed back against any changes to the IRA and nutrition programs.

GOP push: House Ag Republicans have proposed repurposing about $15 billion in IRA climate-smart agriculture money and restricting future Thrifty Food Plan updates to SNAP to pay for spending increases in the farm bill’s safety net and key Democratic priorities.

If Republicans insist on those reallocations from the IRA or changes to the TFP, then “a bipartisan bill is not going to come out of committee,” Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) told MA.

House Ag Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.), who has been meeting one-on-one with a handful of Democrats in recent months to build support for his plans, shot back in an op-ed with Agri-Pulse. The boost to the safety net and other bipartisan priorities for the farm bill would cost more than $75 billion.

“I am the only one who has put forth an actual plan to move a farm bill and pay for the bipartisan requests,” Thompson wrote, noting he’s “taken arrows and public missives at every turn.”

As we’ve reported, Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) has reached out to vulnerable House Democrats to urge them not to support the GOP plans.

SENATE IMPASSE: In the upper chamber, senators are still locked in an impasse over similar funding questions.

Stabenow has tried to break the logjam by putting forward a crop insurance plan that would provide more affordable options for farmers, but also force them to opt out of separate risk mitigation programs.

Republicans have bristled at those plans. Notably, Senate Ag member John Hoeven (R-N.D.) told MA: “That’s not gonna work.”

Hoeven has been working on his own crop insurance plans, according to five people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. His legislation would also provide more affordable crop insurance options, but wouldn’t force producers to opt out of separate risk mitigation programs.

Funding puzzle: Stabenow doesn’t want to repurpose any climate or nutrition funding in order to fund Hoeven’s crop insurance plan. People familiar with the matter also say Stabenow discouraged Democrats from signing onto Hoeven’s plan before she circulated her own plan.

“It’s no secret that Chairwoman Stabenow is focused on improving crop insurance,” Stabenow’s Senate Ag Committee spokesperson Jay Tilton said in response. “It’s the No. 1 risk management tool for farmers, and she has been very public with her proposal. She certainly welcomes new ideas and any real, bipartisan proposal that can bring us closer to the finish line.”

Some commodity groups, including from Minnesota, have asked the state’s Senate Ag Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith to co-sponsor Hoeven’s yet-to-be unveiled crop insurance bill. Klobuchar is in line to be the top Democrat on the panel next Congress after Stabenow retires at the end of the year. Smith chairs the subcommittee on commodities, risk management, and trade.

Both Klobuchar and Smith have been “noncommittal” about signing onto Hoeven’s bill, according to a person familiar with the matter, who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. The person noted that if producers opt out of separate risk mitigation programs as required by Stabenow’s plan, “you might guess right, or you might guess wrong” on coverage needed for that year.

Commodity groups now have their eyes on Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who is one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for reelection this fall.

Fresh from USDA

DON’T BE CHICKEN: USDA’s first pro-competition rule, which will require poultry companies to increase transparency for farmers who raise broiler chickens on contract, goes into effect Feb. 12.

“From what I have seen, [there’s been] a lot of effort to come into compliance before it goes into effect,” said a USDA official, adding that the agency has received a lot of questions from growers about contracts and from companies.

Lawmakers and industry had pressed USDA to delay implementation of the rule to no avail. The department is racing to finalize a suite of pro-competition rules, cementing a cornerstone of the Biden administration’s anti-monopoly agenda.

The chicken industry remains hotly critical of the rule and its implementation.

“Implementation has been beyond rushed, the overwhelming majority of our questions have yet to be answered, USDA seems to be moving the goalpost even as we work towards implementation, and despite USDA having had 500+ days to work on this rule, they don’t even seem to have answers to most of the questions that are coming up,” National Chicken Council spokesperson Tom Super told MA.

Turkey growers left out?: The final rule as written won’t apply to turkey growers, a prospect that has rankled those producers. Asked about this exception, the USDA official said that the department didn’t collect enough evidence from the public to write an effective rule for turkeys, which have different biology and other distinctions that make it difficult to write a universal rule.

“Had we gone final on a rule not well-designed for turkeys, it would have put the whole rule at risk,” the USDA official said. However, turkey processing companies can still be held liable for deceptive practices and other violations of the nation’s antitrust laws, the official added.

Row Crops

— ICYMI: President Joe Biden and Democrats are ready to run on the economy. But Republicans are digging in too, highlighting the still painful costs of groceries and other key consumer goods, Meredith and Eleanor Mueller report.

— The Environmental Defense Fund’s annual Capitol Hill fly-in is this week, with a focus on “how Congress can align economic and environmental incentives for agricultural producers.”

THAT’S ALL FOR MA! Drop us a line: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].

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Garrett Downs is a food and agriculture reporter for POLITICO.

Garrett previously worked for Agri-Pulse Communications, where he covered Congress. He broke news on efforts to overhaul ocean shipping laws, tracked early movers and shakers in the lead-up to the 2023 farm bill and scoured the halls of the Capitol to dig up ag scoops for Agri-Pulse’s daily newsletter, Daybreak. He has also covered international trade policy and agricultural trade at Inside U.S. Trade.

Garrett previously worked with POLITICO as an intern on the New York team. Covering Albany from Maine during the pandemic, he tracked the odds of gambling legalization, scrutinized state energy policy and broke a story on progressive state legislators planning for the downfall of then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the app Clubhouse.

While in college at St. John’s University, Garrett worked as a copy kid at the New York Post. Though his day job was manning the copy machine, he found his way onto the streets of NYC searching for stories. His first scoop on sticky-fingered costumed characters led to a spiderman in handcuffs.

Garrett was raised in the seacoast region of New Hampshire. Though he did not grow up on a farm, his first job was selling sweetcorn out of a pickup on the side of the White Mountain Highway.

Meredith Lee is a food and agriculture policy reporter for POLITICO. She previously spent six years at NewsHour covering the 2016 and 2020 campaigns, the Trump and Biden administrations, Congress and economic policy. Her work included supply chain and food insecurity issues, the Trump and Biden Covid-19 responses in rural communities and efforts to overhaul immigration for migrant agriculture workers.

During the 2020 campaign, she reported on the impact of Trump’s trade war on Midwest battleground states along with political and demographic shifts in the region.

Meredith grew up on a dairy farm in southeast Minnesota — where she helped out from a young age — and brings a deep personal familiarity with the forces reshaping the industry.

Before joining NewsHour, Meredith worked as a freelance journalist in South America and Cuba covering politics and vulnerable populations as well as Pope Francis’ Havana visit. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in journalism and English literature.