Why the 2018 farm bill really failed – and what’s next?
The 2018 farm bill died on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on May 18. The cause of death was two-fold: Failure to reach an agreement over immigration; and harsher work requirements for food stamp recipients.
The massive $868 billion legislative package, which congress must renew every 5 years, subsidizes agriculture and funds food assistance programs. It’s been mired in partisan fighting – and infighting among Republicans who control the majority in the House – all year.
The defeat in late May isn’t a total surprise. However, because the farm bill is so important to American agriculture, many were still holding out hope that a compromise could be found in order to pass the legislation before the June primary elections throughout the country. Didn’t happen.
Here’s the lay of the land for the 2018 farm bill as we go to press in June.
Conservative Republicans have decided to use the farm bill as a vehicle to push changes in immigration, specifically they want changes to DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program.)
The major change to DACA is being pushed by conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus. They want a vote on an immigration proposal by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), which does not include a path to citizenship and imposes stricter immigration checks. Most experts say that plan would be dead on arrival in the Senate and even unlikely to get enough Republican support in the House to pass.
Meanwhile, Central Valley California Republican Jeff Denham is leading a push for more moderate changes to DACA. Denham faces a tough election this year and can’t afford to alienate Latinos who make up a high percentage of voters in his district.
The stumbling block to the Denham group’s more moderate efforts is a coalition of Republicans led by Rep. Goodlatte (R-VA). They know the farm bill needs as much support as it can get and are holding out for major changes in DACA as their bargaining chip.
As of today there is no consensus within the Republican party as to how they will go forward on the farm bill.
Immigration isn’t the only stumbling block that prevented passage of the 2018 farm bill. A provision in the bill that would require stronger work requirements for recipients of food stamps (SNAP) has not only been met by across the board opposition from Democrats, many moderate Republicans object to the provision as well.
Experts estimate imposing the stricter work requirements for food stamp recipients could amount to more than $20 billion in cuts to the program’s benefits, and will impact more than 1 million people.
Democrats and the group of moderate Republicans say this is too harsh. And in an interesting twist, some conservatives led by the Heritage Foundation and the Koch Brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity, say the work requirements don’t go far enough. They came out against the farm bill ahead of the vote in May. This coalition says they played a part in killing the bill by convincing around 30 Republicans to vote against it.
As of today there is no movement among House Republicans on achieving a compromise on reducing the work requirement provision, which means Democrats and the moderate block of Republicans who oppose it would vote the same today on the farm bill as they voted in May, which was against it.
Ironically, House Speaker Paul Ryan has wanted to divorce immigration from the farm bill completely, and is open to negotiation on the work requirement provision. But the ‘tail is wagging the dog’ in the Republican caucus. Perhaps this is one reason why Ryan recently announced he plans to leave the U.S. Congress when his current terms ends.
But Ryan is flexing what leadership muscle he can. He recently said he will only put up a vote for a farm bill that could become law and that President Trump will sign. This is clearly impossible at present, which makes it difficult to see how the leadership will be able to call another vote on the bill in June, which is something being called for by some members of his caucus.
The fight over immigration and food stamps has taken up all the oxygen when it comes to the farm bill. Notice how little discussion there is about actual agriculture, for example?
Important issues like farm subsidies – are they a good or bad idea, for example – the role emerging technology is playing in farming, the labor shortage (related to immigration but an issue on its own as well), global trade and others aren’t getting the level of discussion and debate they warrant in the legislative process. Instead in-party fighting in the GOP and political partisanship are controlling the process.
Historically the farm bill has been an example of legislative compromise. Democrats from farm states have traditionally worked with farm state Republicans, focusing together on their common interests and putting partisanship aside.
Urban and rural representatives of both parties have worked together on both the food assistance elements and the farm elements of the bill because for urban legislators compromising on farm issues often means getting something they want on food stamp assistance.
The immigration issue is of paramount importance to California farmers because the present day reality is that there’s a critical shortage of farm workers in the state.
Repealing DACA does nothing to help California farmers and will likely result in an even greater shortage of immigrants to pick the crops much of America and the world relies on.
None of the current immigration reform measures in the 2018 farm bill will help California farmers or the ag industry where it matters most — in the fields and in the packing houses.
In terms of the food stamp provisions, work requirements make sense in my view. But they must be realistic and workable. Additionally, reducing food stamp payouts is going to have a negative effect in many rural California farm counties like in the Central Valley where unemployment remains high despite some improvement over the last few years. This must be taken into consideration. The urban-rural divide has in many ways grown rather than decreased in the Golden State.
My advise to the GOP is to strip-out immigration from the farm bill. It belongs in the immigration bill instead.
My advise to Democrats is to compromise a bit on the food stamp work requirements.
To Republicans I suggest making the requirements less-harsh and more realistic. They should also be phased in over time.
I don’t expect either party will listen to me. But the reality is what I suggest is a pretty good recipe for compromise, which is what is needed for a farm bill to happen.
For example, even if a highly-partisan farm bill passes the House, it will fail in the Senate. And because Speaker Ryan has promised to only pass a bill that will pass in the Senate and get signed by President Trump, compromise is the only solution.
This compromise must start within the Republican Party itself. Until that happens there’s no reaching compromise with Democrats.
Beyond getting a 2018 farm bill passed I think it’s about time Washington DC and the country as a whole look at the entire process.
We need to look at what crops we subsidies and why we subsidize then — and if we should.
We need to question if food assistance should remain as part of the farm bill at all, or if instead it would make better sense to put it elsewhere.
We need to start looking forward in agricultural policy. Technology is changing food and farming in dramatic ways. But in most ways the farm bill remains embedded in agrarian America.
This longer-term process however not only will require compromise, it requires cooperation by the political parties. Let’s hope we can get back to that some time soon. Agriculture needs it, as does the country as a whole.
Victor Martino: Ag Expo Magazine columnist and contributing editor. Victor Martino is founder and president of San Francisco and Modesto-based Third Wave Strategies, a strategic marketing, business development and innovation firm, specializing in the food, agribusiness and grocery industries. Contact Martino at: victormartino415@gmail.com.
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