Senate Ag Chairman Boozman Sees Farm Bill Markup Happening in 'Weeks'

Agri Pulse

Washington, DC -- Ag committee lawmakers returned to Washington after the Easter recess with continued optimism that passage of a new, five-year farm bill is on the horizon.

"I say weeks rather than months," Senate Ag Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., said Tuesday when asked about the timeline. "We are going to get this thing marked up soon."

The farm bill passed out of the House Ag Committee in March with the support of all Republicans and seven Democrats. It now heads to the House floor for a vote, potentially as early as this month.

While many farm bill elements were included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last summer, the House-passed farm bill carries a few controversial provisions like overturning California's Proposition 12 animal welfare standard and passing legislation to protect pesticide manufacturers from lawsuits.

"We're going to get it on the floor. We're whipping the farm bill now within our conference," Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., said Tuesday. He said he hopes that some Democrats "will put aside this politics in this Congress, and we'll get it through the floor and over to the Senate."

During the North American Ag Journalists meeting Tuesday, Boozman called the House version "a good bill" and said he just wanted to "modify it a little bit." He said he'd even be open to adding authorization for year-round E15 in an upcoming farm bill if the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee agrees to it.

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar used her remarks to criticize the "middle of the night" deal on SNAP and call for changes to state SNAP cost-share provisions. "If we move forward on a farm bill, it should be a piece of any negotiation," she added.

Boozman reiterated previous statements that he is not open to a state SNAP cost-share delay.

Take note: Senate Ag Committee Democrats are becoming frustrated with the lack of momentum of the committee. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said Tuesday the committee is "actually one of my least active committees, and at a time when we're literally approving $12 billion in a bailout for farmers because of the tariffs."

"I wish we were doing more work on a farm bill draft, right? The House has worked on a farm bill draft, and like it or not like it, they've done the work and at least there's something to react to and to think about," Slotkin said. "In the Senate Ag Committee, we've been frozen since the big beautiful bill."