Senate Ag advances farm bill along party lines

The Senate Agriculture Committee today voted 12 to 11 to advance the farm bill to the full Senate.The vote was along party lines: all Republicans supported it, and all Democrats opposed it. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who returned to the Senate this week after an absence since June due to a fall, was present to vote for the bill, giving Republicans a majority present to vote for it. McConnell voted, but did not speak and was wheeled out as the discussion progressed.

“The important thing is we got it passed,” Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., told reporters, noting that Democrats support the agriculture provisions of the bill.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, attempted to offer an amendment on Proposition 12, the California law that requires all pork sold in the state to come from animals raised under certain conditions. Boozman ruled that Ernst was out of order because the committee had closed out all titles of the bill before voting on it August 6.

Ernst said her proposal would leave Proposition 12 in place but prevent future mandates.

Ernst maintained that the last title of the bill was still open, but Boozman disagreed. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he also wanted to offer an amendment on the Packers and Stockyards Act, but Boozman also refused to offer him that opportunity.

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said he was sympathetic to Ernst’s amendment but suggested she offer it on the Senate floor. Boozman later told reporters there is not a single Democratic senator who supports curbing Proposition 12.

After the vote and Ernst and Grassley expressed their irritation, the committee turned to statements about the bill.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., ranking member on the committee, said that Democrats really want to finish the bill but insist on delaying a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for longer than one year. This provision requires states to pay a portion of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits depending on the state’s payment error rate.Klobuchar said the farmers really need the bill due to the “headwinds” from the Trump administration’s tariff policies and the blockages in the Strait of Hormuz, which have raised fertilizer prices. Klobuchar said she and other Democrats are determined to get the bill done before the end of the year.Klobuchar noted that in addition to the SNAP issue, the Make American Healthy Again movement has objections to conservation provisions. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that the one-year delay is reasonable and warned that if the bill does not pass the states would have to implement the provision as written. Thune noted that if the delay does not go into effect, it will cost the states $17 billion.

Boozman told reporters that the intent of the state SNAP cost share is not to make the states pay but to get them to reduce their error rates. Boozman told reporters he believes the states’ problems are due to dated technology, not fraud.Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said that he has been a loyal Democrat but that farmers need the bill. Fetterman added, however, that he is only one vote, indicating that if he were to switch and support the bill it would not be enough because the bill will need 60 votes to pass on the Senate floor.

Boozman said he would work on the bill in the next two weeks the Senate is in session. He did not sound hopeful about action on the Senate floor before the October recess for the elections, but noted that Thune has promised floor time because the bill is so important to South Dakota.

After the vote, a range of farm groups praised passage while anti-hunger groups urged the full Senate to reject it.House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., said in a statement, “Advancing the Agricultural Act of 2026 from committee is a significant step in the right direction as we work to restore certainty and common sense to agricultural policy. Farm country cannot wait any longer for updated policies, and I applaud Chairman Boozman and Senate Republicans for recognizing this urgency, even as Senate Democrats refuse to come to the table to support American producers. Passing a full, five-year farm bill remains my top priority, and I look forward to working with any lawmakers who make good faith efforts to support our producers in the coming months.”

–The Hagstrom Report