February 13, 2025 – Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee released a draft farm bill package today, as farmers across the country continue to call for overdue investments.

The text of the bill largely reflects the Republican proposal from 2024, but it faces an uphill battle with Democrats, who have vowed to oppose a farm bill unless cuts to federal food assistance are reversed.

“The Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026,” released Friday by Agriculture Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pennsylvania), contains provisions left out of the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB). It includes mostly bipartisan legislation from the committee’s last attempt to pass a farm bill, which advanced out of committee in May 2024. At the time, only four Democrats voted in favor of the package.

The new package, dubbed “farm bill 2.0,” includes some investment in specialty crops and local food systems. But it also contains controversial bills on pesticides and animal welfare that some Democrats are likely to oppose.

Ahead of the text release, Ranking Member Angie Craig (D-Minnesota) told Politico that Republican staff refused to share details of the bill with Democrats on the committee. Having now seen it, Craig said it “fails to meet the moment facing farmers and working people.”

“The Republican majority instead chose to ignore Democratic priorities and focus on pushing a shell of a farm bill with poison pills that complicates if not derails chances of getting anything done,” Craig said in a statement.

Craig’s response follows months of House Agriculture Democrats warning that the unprecedented cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) made in the OBBB will make it challenging to advance a farm bill.

The House Agriculture Committee plans to debate the farm bill on Feb. 23. If it advances out of committee, it could still face challenges. House leadership must bring the bill to the floor, and already Republicans have begun discussions of a second reconciliation bill, which is likely to take up time and attention on Capitol Hill. (Link to this post.)

The post House Republicans Unveil a Revamped Farm Bill appeared first on Civil Eats.

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