ADVOCACY REPORT
Current Washington Situation
Congress, the Farm Bill, and Government Funding. Only six months remain in the 118 th Congress, and Congress appears poised to delay most significant legislative action until after the November elections. The most elusive agreement of the Congress has been the reauthorization of a five-year farm bill. Both the House and the Senate have made moves to advance a farm bill, but it is widely speculated that final action on the farm bill will occur after the election. In May, the House Agriculture Committee passed its $1.5 trillion farm bill proposal out of committee by a vote of 33-21, with four Democrats and all Republicans voting to advance the bill. The House Committee bill significantly boosts farm safety net programs, doubles funding for the Market Access Program (MAP), increases funding for specialty crop programs, expands access to programs that lower energy costs for farmers and improves tracking of farmland purchases by entities from China and other adversary countries. The ability to move the House bill to consideration on the House Floor is hampered by two significant issues. First, the bill lacks complete cost offsets which creates issues for fiscally conservative members, particularly the House Freedom Caucus.
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ALMOND FACTS
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