By Clint Thompson
U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK.), the longest-serving Member on the House Committee on Agriculture, prefers the farm bill to be completed in 2024 rather than rolling over into 2025. He said the likelihood of that happening hinges on a little bit of luck with less than half the year remaining.
“The lay of the land is changing, so it should give some urgency to the democrats I serve with in the House and Senate Ag Committee to get the work done. If present trends continue, there’s high probability that you’ll have a Republican Chair of the House Ag Committee, Republican Chair of the Senate Committee and a Republican Secretary of Agriculture,” Lucas said. “It gives them a little extra encouragement to get serious with us.
“I’m confident President Biden will sign a farm bill if we put it on his desk. We just have to put a bill on the president’s desk. No matter who the president of the United States is from what period of time they’re in, when they talk about the bill they wrote, Congress writes the bill. They either sign them or they veto them and are supposed to implement them correctly.”
Senator’s Impact
Lucas spoke on Friday at the Southern Peanut Growers Conference in Savannah, Georgia. He believes that Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow’s looming retirement could also factor in how quickly a bill is finalized.
“Senator Stabenow, who I have the greatest of respect for, retires in January. If she wants to have a major fingerprint on this, which she will and does, then we need to do it now,” Lucas said.
“I’m an eternal optimist. The House has passed a bill out of committee. The Senate has put out an outline, but they’ve not passed anything. If the chairman, ranking Members of the House and Senate Ag Committees could come to terms, this could happen quickly. We’re not re-inventing the wheel, we’re adjusting the numbers. We don’t have to craft basic new policy, just the numbers.”
Fruit and vegetable growers have multiple needs they hope are addressed in the newest edition of the farm bill, specifically labor and trade. The farm bill is a piece of legislation that is renewed every five years. President Trump signed the current farm bill into law on Dec. 20, 2018.
“Farm bills are hard; always have been, always will be. When you’re doing the things people take for granted and doing them successfully, it just makes it harder. But if you care about your fellow citizens, folks on the farm and consumers around the world, it’s just got to be done,” Lucas said. “We can’t go back to not having a farm bill.”