Grassley Says Estimate Farm Bill Dollars Until Debt Ceiling, Budget Deal

The question is what to do about the farm bill while the White House and House Republicans fight it out over the U.S. borrowing limit and spending cuts. But Senator Chuck Grassley suggests an answer. How do you write a farm bill or any budget or spending bill in Congress, when you don’t know how much you have to work with.

Grassley; “You have to blow ahead, write the farm bill policy, and put in what you think are reasonable numbers. And if they’re too high, you’ll have to dial ‘em back.”

But if they’re not high enough, that could cost votes, even forcing the need for an unpopular farm bill extension when the current bill expires on September 30th. House Democrats are already attacking possible GOP-proposed spending cuts they charge could harm public safety, border security, childcare, college aid, rental help, and nutrition. Grassley talks about cuts bleeding into the farm bill.

Grassley; “Well, I haven’t studied the House proposals at this point, and I don’t think they’re very much in concrete at this point. So, they can change a lot.”

While Grassley pushes on the Senate side for farm payment limits and he and other Republicans try to find ways to at least ease SNAP spending once the pandemic emergency ends on May 11th. But big picture, House Speaker McCarthy has vowed to cut $130 billion, or eight percent, from current fiscal year funding—22 percent if defense and veterans are left alone.