Today, House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig (MN-02) delivered the following opening statement at the full committee markup of the Republicans’ partisan farm bill. Watch the full markup here.
[As prepared for delivery.]
Mr. Chairman, before I begin my formal remarks, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the unfortunate and tragic loss this committee and its members have experienced in recent weeks. Doug LaMalfa, who is no longer with us; Jim Baird, who is attending his family due to the recent passing of his wife, Danise; and Jonathan Jackson, whose father, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, also died recently. My heart goes out to them and their families.
I would also like to take a moment to acknowledge the brave men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces currently in harm’s way, and the six who have already tragically lost their lives in the war with Iran
As we begin consideration of this legislation, it is important to take stock of where we are today. When you talk to farmers or farm groups, people who buy groceries or nutrition groups, the message we hear is the same: American ag and rural communities are hurting.
Despite the administration’s claims, all is not well in farm country.
Commodity prices are well below the cost of production, farm incomes are declining, input costs remain high and farm bankruptcies are up 46 percent over the last year.
Americans of all walks of life are facing an affordability crisis. And much of this is the result of economic and trade policies enacted by this administration and enabled by Republicans in Congress.
It didn’t have to be this way. Republicans could have rejected the administration’s global trade war that has devastated farms and businesses across the country more than a year ago.
The Supreme Court has now affirmed what we already knew. Congress, not the president, has the authority to levy tariffs. The president’s trade war has been illegal this entire time, and Republicans gave up their power.
My Republican colleagues should have fought to expand domestic markets, not allow our largest trade partners to be pushed into the arms of our biggest agricultural competitors.
And Republicans should have worked with Democrats to pass a five-year, 12-title farm bill. Instead, we are here to mark up a so-called “skinny” farm bill – the last pieces of the jig-saw puzzle of a farm bill.
It didn’t have to go this way. There are many policies this Congress could undertake to fix what bad policy and partisanship have caused.
Despite making massive cuts to Title 4 in the so-called Big Beautiful Bill and extending and modifying additional farm programs outside the regular process, Democrats have entered into good faith negotiations with the majority.
It was my sincere hope that we could agree on what we could agree on and leave out the more controversial elements of this bill that present issues for support to both some Democrats and Republicans.
Today, we could move forward with the Farm and Family Relief Act.
Today, we could add year-round E15 to the bill.
Today, we could amend and remove the poison pills in this bill.
Sadly, Republicans seem determined to continue down the partisan path, which leads us to the bill before us today that we are about to mark up.
To be fair, there are some bipartisan provisions in the bill, which I appreciate, as I led efforts on them.
Codifying the ReConnect program to expand broadband access for rural Americans.
Making crop insurance more affordable and accessible for our veterans.
And the PACE Act to improve credit and increase USDA loan limits.
But despite the bipartisan elements of this bill, it represents a missed opportunity to address the most pressing challenges facing farmers and families right now. And it contains those provisions that we all know many Democrats will not support. And for the record, that many Republicans are hearing from the MAHA community about as well.
This bill will not restore lost export markets or lower input costs. It does not help American children, seniors and veterans afford their groceries or states and counties avoid an unfunded mandate to shift SNAP costs to them.
This bill ignores hemp farmers in Minnesota and elsewhere, who followed the law and innovated a new marketplace – and whose entire supply chains and businesses are now under threat.
It rolls back provisions from the 2024 Farm Bill that provide Tribes with more access to USDA programs.
My sincere hope is that the Senate will provide us a product that better meets the needs of the American farmer and rural communities and that, in the end, we can get a bipartisan product signed into law.
I cannot vote for this bill today, but I remain hopeful that in the end, we get the product that America’s farmers and working people deserve.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
