Senate Ag's math problem

Politico

23-06-2025

Presented by
With help from Samuel Benson, Jordain Carney, Ari Hawkins
QUICK FIX
— Senate Republicans are scrambling to salvage their reconciliation plans after the chamber's parliamentarian rejected their proposal to push SNAP costs onto states.
— Amid anxiety about immigration raids on farms, President Donald Trump said he's exploring policies for farmers to 'take responsibility' for their workers' legal statuses.
— The Trump administration is weighing an executive order to move programs from USDA's Rural Development agency to the Small Business Administration.
IT'S MONDAY, JUNE 23. Welcome to Morning Agriculture. I'm your host Grace Yarrow. Send tips to [e-mail] and follow your favorite ag team at @Morning_Ag for more.
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Driving the day
BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD: Senate Republicans' plan to force states to share the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to pay for their policy megabill has been halted by the chamber's rules, leaving lawmakers scrambling for backup plans and other ways to cut agriculture spending.
The Senate parliamentarian determined that the cost-sharing plan would violate the so-called Byrd Rule, which limits what can be included in the reconciliation process, and would be subject to a 60-vote filibuster threshold, as yours truly wrote.
The Senate Ag Committee introduced a scaled-back version of the House GOP's cost-sharing plan earlier this month. Without it, Senate Republicans will struggle to find enough cuts to pay for their policy priorities and the $67 billion farm bill package they included.
They're staring down a deadline of delivering the megabill to President Donald Trump's desk by July 4, meaning they need to introduce and pass the bill this week before heading home for next week's recess.
Republicans are hoping to finalize bill text as soon as tonight and begin moving the legislation as soon as Wednesday.
What now? Senate Ag Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) and his staff are exploring how to revamp the cost-share plan so that it could survive the Byrd Rule. But it's not clear what could receive the parliamentarian's stamp of approval while maintaining the committee's net $150 billion or so in savings.
Boozman's other options aren't much easier: The committee could look to directly cut SNAP benefits by reversing Biden-era increases to the program or abandon the expensive farm bill programs, which have the backing of powerful ag lobbying groups and farmers.
Republicans could also simply move forward with a bill containing smaller slashes, meaning less money for Republicans to spend on tax cuts and immigration policy — but that would ruffle feathers among fiscal hawks in the House who are already worried the megabill won't go far enough to reduce spending.
Other droppings: The Senate parliamentarian also struck measures that would remove SNAP eligibility for immigrants who are not lawful permanent residents.
Another Byrd dropping is the extension of a key farm bill provision that allows federal officials to update farm payment programs, meaning a heavier lift for lawmakers when they attempt to pass a farm bill later this year.
Dems' victory lap: Senate Ag Democratic staff, led by ranking member Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) challenged the cost-sharing proposal and other key pieces of the GOP-led bill during a bipartisan meeting with the parliamentarian Thursday.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the ruling a 'small but important win' as Democrats look to battle the partisan policy package with minimal legislative leverage. Schumer added in a statement that even without the cost-sharing plan, the megabill 'still includes the most brutal assault to food assistance in American history.'
Klobuchar also said in a statement that the remainder of the bill will 'still be devastating to families, farmers, and independent grocers across the country.'
At the White House
HAPPY, HEALTHY AND FAT: President Donald Trump said he's looking for farmers to 'take responsibility for the people that they hire' as ag business groups are increasingly anxious about how ICE raids will impact farm workers.
Trump told reporters that the administration doesn't 'want to hurt people that aren't criminals.'
'You've had people that have worked on farms for 20 years, it's very hard to go in there and say, you know, 'you're coming out.' But we're going to let the farmers take responsibility, they're great people, they'll do it, they know the good and the bad,' Trump said.
His remarks came just days after the Department of Homeland Security abruptly reversed its guidance to pause raids on farms, restaurants and hotels, after the Trump administration initially planned to exempt those worksites from immigration enforcement efforts.
'I never want to hurt our farmers. Our farmers are great people,' Trump said. 'They keep us happy and healthy and fat.'
Reality check: Forty-two percent of all U.S. crop workers are undocumented, according to USDA estimates from 2022. And ICE has reached well beyond violent offenders as they work to meet an aggressive goal of arresting 3,000 people per day.
IN MORE LABOR NEWS: The Labor Department is pausing enforcement of a 2024 rule relating to H-2A visas, effectively shelving the Biden administration's overhaul of the seasonal migrant labor program, our Samuel Benson writes.
The rule, which took effect in June 2024, increased wage transparency and offered workers limited union representation and protections against labor trafficking.
Three federal courts issued preliminary injunctions against the rule, blocking enforcement of certain provisions or the entire rule in certain regions across the country. DOL said it was suspending enforcement because the injunctions sparked 'legal uncertainty, inconsistency, and operational challenges' for farmers.
AROUND THE AGENCIES
RURAL DEVELOPMENT TURF WAR: The Trump administration is weighing whether to transfer some programs from USDA's Rural Development agency to the Small Business Administration, according to documents obtained by POLITICO.
Staff at the Small Business Administration drafted an executive order for Trump that would give SBA control over three programs in the Rural Business-Cooperative Service, which offers grants, loan guarantees and other capital products.
Internal tensions: USDA officials pushed back against the proposal in a briefing memo meant for Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, arguing that SBA is not equipped to handle those programs and that transferring them would detract from the administration's priorities.
Top officials from Rollins' office met to discuss the draft executive order on June 12, according to the documents. USDA spokesperson Alec Varsamis said Rollins has not reviewed the memo, which he described as 'pre-decisional, scenario planning documents.'
Read the full scoop from our Marcia Brown here.
TRADE CORNER
TOMATO, TOMATO, LET'S CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF: Farm groups and GOP lawmakers are making a last-ditch push to block a 20.91 percent duty on tomatoes set to kick in July 14 — putting them at odds with Florida Republicans backing the hike, as Commerce exits a deal with Mexico.
Signed in 2019, the so-called 'Tomato Suspension Agreement' delayed anti-dumping duties approved by the U.S. International Trade Commission, replacing them with a new arrangement with Mexico. That duty is now set to return after Commerce announced in April it would not be renewed, claiming it 'failed to protect' U.S. growers from unfairly priced Mexican imports.
Florida tomato growers, who export to most of the country and play a dominant role in the Eastern and Midwestern agriculture markets, have long called to terminate the agreement.
But growers and producers elsewhere in the country defend the deal and the access it provides to lower-cost Mexican products. In the weeks since the surprise end of the deal, industry groups have stepped up outreach to pressure the Trump administration to change course, targeting officials from USDA, Commerce, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, as well as Republican lawmakers from the Sunbelt.
'We anticipate retail prices to go up,' said Tom Stenzel, executive director of the Controlled Environment Agriculture Alliance, which represents tomato growers in states around the country. 'You're not punishing some Mexican grower somewhere with this decision. This is going to come and hit U.S. consumers and U.S. companies.'
Reminder: Florida growers have been battling Mexican tomato imports since at least 1994, when the North American Free Trade Agreement went into force, phasing out tariffs between the United States and Mexico. Since then, the Florida Tomato Exchange has periodically sought anti-dumping duties on Mexican tomatoes, claiming that they are unfairly priced.
Row Crops
— The Protect American Lamb Coalition is asking Trump to implement higher tariffs and tariff-rate quotas on imported lamb, calling the 'collapse' of the sheep industry a 'threat' to agriculture and national security.
— Start your coffee pots: The House Appropriations Committee will reconvene tonight to continue debate on amendments to the Ag-FDA fiscal 2026 funding bill.
— Authorities in western India are taking steps to improve labor conditions for sugar cane cutters after a court ruling and an investigation by The New York Times and The Fuller Project highlighted serious abuses of workers. (The New York Times)
— USDA's wildland fire agency representatives raised the national fire preparedness level with a focus on prevention as peak fire season begins, Rollins announced Saturday.
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