Members of Congress Talk Farm Bill at 2024 PA Farm Show

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Rep. Glenn Thompson joked that he’s been wandering about Washington recently, looking under rocks for pots of money.

It’s his way of saying that he’s looking for as much funding as possible for the federal Farm Bill.

As chair of the House Agriculture Committee, Thompson is a chief architect of that bill, which will cost an estimated $1.3 trillion.

After getting a one-year extension late last year, the Centre County Republican talked with House Speaker Mike Johnson and hopes to pass the Farm Bill in the House in March.

“I’m looking forward to having March transition from being the luck of the Irish to the luck of the farmer,” Thompson said Jan. 6 during a listening session at the Pennsylvania Farm Show.

The Harrisburg expo’s opening day proved popular with members of Congress.

Republican Reps. Dan Meuser and Scott Perry were in attendance, as were both of Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators, Democrats Bob Casey and John Fetterman.

Casey, who is running for re-election this year, expects the Farm Bill will be completed in 2024, though maybe not early in the year as farm groups have requested.

His top priorities for the Farm Bill are supporting farmers and food banks to combat hunger, wisely using the unprecedented amount of funding available for conservation, and strengthening ag exports.

The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act provided $20 billion for agricultural conservation programs on top of the existing Farm Bill funding.

But separate from anything being spent, the supplemental funding is declining as the Congressional Budget Office revises its estimates of how much USDA will be able to spend before the 2031 cutoff. It was a bad way to authorize the funding, Thompson said.

Thompson, who battled a persistent cough during the listening session, wants to add that funding to the Farm Bill baseline, which will preserve the funding and also build it into future Farm Bills.

Thompson has gotten pushback on that idea, which he attributed to an unwillingness to mess with one of President Joe Biden’s signature legislative wins.

“It’s Washington. We always don’t get it right the first time around,” Thompson said. “And we should be able to make enhancements, refinements and improvements.”

Speaking outside the Farm Show Complex as a light snow fell, Casey said he would oppose Republican efforts to cut Farm Bill funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Republicans proposed tightening work requirements for the program during last year’s Farm Bill hearings, and changes were made through the summer’s debt ceiling negotiations.

In recent years, SNAP has served 41 million people per month. Nutrition assistance receives about 80% of Farm Bill spending.

Casey said funding food aid is more than a moral question. The money, which recipients immediately spend, provides an economic boost.

“When we pass a robust SNAP program and funding for it, everyone in the country benefits,” Casey said.

Considering SNAP is already such a large part of the Farm Bill, Thompson doesn’t think he’ll be able to boost funding for nutrition. But he could secure changes to program rules.

Pennsylvania Ag Secretary Russell Redding suggested one such revision.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program has increased the amount of USDA-purchased food that is delivered to the state. But the program doesn’t cover the additional cost of distribution, meaning that burden has fallen on food banks.

Pennsylvania has been able to help with those costs through state food assistance programs, but Farm Bill assistance would be welcome, Redding said.

In the Farm Bill, Thompson said he also aims to cut regulations for farmers to grow hemp for industrial purposes, such as fiber and livestock feed.

“It’s ridiculous that you have to get fingerprinted and interviewed,” he said.