March 5, 2026 – The House Agriculture Committee has advanced a 2026 Farm Bill, as Democrats failed to scale back Republican SNAP cuts and to remove protections for pesticide companies against individual lawsuits.
After more than 20 hours of debate, the panel passed the “Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026,” in a 34-17 vote, with seven Democrats joining all Republicans supporting the bill.
The last time the committee advanced a farm bill, in 2024, only four Democrats sided with Republicans. That measure was never brought to the House floor. The latest package includes many of the same provisions from the 2024 proposal. It could face similar hurdles in getting to the full House for a vote.
Committee Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pennsylvania) previously told reporters that House leadership would bring the bill to the floor for a full vote, likely by Easter. But it could also face some challenges within the Republican caucus, over provisions related to pesticides that the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement has pressured lawmakers to reject.
Through two days of debate this week, Democrats attempted to roll back policies passed in the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) last year that are expected to remove millions of dollars from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. In total, the panel spent more than five hours discussing nutrition-related amendments.
Democrats pushed to roll back provisions from the OBBB that add financial burden to states, add work requirements, and otherwise shrink the program. None of these amendments passed.
By leaving the OBBB SNAP cuts in place, lawmakers risk future farm bills, Ranking Member Angie Craig (D-Minnesota) warned members. These cuts have “destroyed” the farm bill coalition that has been key to bipartisan farm bills and that benefit both farmers and families, she said.
“The bill before us today, which continues SNAP cuts, increases hunger in America, could very well be the last farm bill in the traditional sense of the word,” Craig said during debate. “We can be driving the last nail in the coffin of this coalition today.”
Thompson responded to Craig and other Democrats’ critiques by arguing that the food programs of the farm bill represent the bulk of funds in the package. The nutrition title makes up 81 percent of farm bill mandatory spending, according to a 2024 Congressional Budget Office estimate.
“That doesn’t seem like a really strong coalition,” Thompson said. “We disadvantaged the people for decades who actually grow the food that’s consumed.”
During the markup, Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) introduced an amendment to cut language protecting pesticide companies from legal claims that their products cause cancer and other illnesses.
Pingree has been successful in stripping similar language from annual appropriations. This time, her amendment failed. The inclusion of the pesticide language in the bill received backlash from some in the MAHA movement, including food activist Vani Hari, who on X called it an “abomination.”
The farm bill must now pass the full House before going to the Senate. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman (R-Arkansas) has said he plans on proceeding with his own farm bill in coming months. (Link to this post.)
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