26 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN August 2024 FARM BILL FEDERAL ISSUES UPDATE NATIONAL CATTLEMEN’S BEEF ASSOCIATION CENTER FOR PUBLIC POLICY Farm Bill Process Ongoing Currently, the 2018 Farm Bill is the law of the land until Sept. 30, 2024, having been extended late last year in a mustpass government spending bill. Congress will either need to pass a new Farm Bill in September or extend the current one again. Extending the current Farm Bill is not out of the ordinary, with the 2008 Farm Bill needing to be extended until 2014 and numerous other delays with other Farm Bills. It is entirely possible, due to the legislative gridlock over the past two years, that the new Farm Bill will not pass this year and another extension would be needed. To their credit, some in Congress are diligently working on the new Farm Bill and making progress. The House Agriculture Committee passed H.R. 8467 – the Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2024, otherwise known as the Farm Bill – out of committee this past May in a bipartisan vote and awaits a full vote on the House floor. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) fully supports the House Farm Bill and the bipartisan work of Chairman GT Thompson (R-Pa.) to reach a consensus in committee. The Senate Agriculture Committee, on both the Republican and Democrat sides, have only released Farm Bill frameworks, not full legislative text, and there are no hearings scheduled to mark up a Senate Farm Bill text. NCBA supports Sen. John Boozman’s (R-Ark.) framework, due to its similarities to the House bill. Unfortunately, Chair Debbie Stabenow’s (D-Mich.) Farm Bill Framework is riddled with poison pill policies that would hurt cattle producers and ignores the conservation benefits of cattle production. Chairman Thompson spoke about the Farm Bill process on a recent episode of NCBA’s Beltway Beef podcast, saying, “I led this process the only way I knew how; let’s get outside of the Beltway in Washington. Let’s hear the voices of American ranchers and farmers and foresters, as well as key stakeholders in rural America, and that’s what we’ve done. I have chaired 85 listening sessions in 40 states and one territory. It’s been great to have ranchers and folks from the cattle industry and commodity groups. … We have had more input from across this country, shore to shore, than perhaps ever before as we prepared for this Farm Bill.” Congress will always find a way to get a Farm Bill passed. The bigger questions are: When will final passage be? and What will be in the final bill? While the funding date may have changed, the goals remain the same, and NCBA is continuing with a full-throated advocacy effort to pass a Farm Bill sooner rather than later. It is important to remember that this is just the beginning of a long and public process to pass the Farm Bill, and negotiations are certain to change the legislative text in both the House and Senate many times before final passage. What is not changing is that NCBA’s top policy priority remains to deliver a Farm Bill that strengthens risk management programs, supports disaster recovery programs, promotes voluntary conservation programs and pushes for more funding to protect the U.S. cattle herd from potential foreign animal disease outbreaks through the vaccine bank. NCBA Defends the Beef Checkoff from Animal Activist Attacks Early last year, animal activist groups started ramping up their attacks against the Beef Checkoff to put themselves one step closer to achieving their overarching goal of ending animal agriculture. The Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act of 2023 (OFF Act) was introduced in Congress, and animal activists gave their support to this legislation in an attempt to silence cattle producers by gutting the best marketing program for beef. That legislation has not seen any movement in Congress but, last September, Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) offered an amendment to the agriculture appropriations bill that stated that no federal funding is allowed to go to Checkoff programs. This amendment was simply a placeholder for the OFF Act because it is a well-known
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