Oklahoma Farm Reports’ Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays caught up with Congressman Frank Lucas at Express Ranches during an event featuring Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. The discussion touched on the New World screw worm issue, but Hays and Lucas also talked about the 2025 Farm Bill, especially what has been done thus far in the “Big Beautiful Bill.” Lucas tells Hays it was good to get a lot of the work done in that vehicle- but what some of what some are calling Farm Bill 2.0 still needs to be done.
Progress So Far on the Farm Bill
Lucas explained that the major funding portion has been secured. “Probably 80% of the funding that’s necessary to fund farm programs for the next six years was included in the Big Beautiful Bill at the tax relief package,” he told Hays. That funding took care of the big-ticket items, but he stressed that, “now we’ve got to go back and do things like address language and funding for agricultural research, rural development, fleshing out the conservation rules, Farm Credit, those sort of things.”
He added that farmers are facing serious international pressures: “Our producers, especially the row crop and field crop people, are under tremendous pressure because of the trade wars going on in this world.” Lucas pointed back to Trump’s negotiations with China, noting, “The President supported that in his first term, and even wound up with a $50 billion deal with the Chinese for U.S. agricultural goods. I can’t tell you that the Biden people made the Chinese complete it, but his record is he understands why we are a part of the team, and he has to protect the whole team.”
Remaining Challenges
Lucas reminded Hays that while most of the money is there, the timing and legislative process will be tough. “We’re in September. We need that other 20% as far as funding, but also a lot of titles still yet to be done. We have to kick the can a little bit further down the road,” he said. Much of this depends on the appropriations process, which has been chronically delayed. “Congress should have passed or should pass all the appropriation bills by the last day of September, but that hasn’t happened for decades,” Lucas explained.
The Path Forward
Given those delays, Lucas said the remaining farm bill pieces will likely be folded into whatever final funding bill Congress agrees on. “In that final bill, whether it’s omnibus or a minibus or a CR, that’s where you have a section dealing with the rest of the farm bill and the funding that’s necessary to address these emergencies,” he said. That means the last pieces could be “slipped in, in a quick, very, very hurry—worked in, in an appropriate place, in the appropriate vehicle.”
He also credited House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson for being ready to move fast. “I promise you, Chairman Thompson and the House Ag Committee has been working frantically to have all our ducks in a row. As the old saying goes, when the window opens, we’re going to drive a freight train through it.”
Reconciliation and Conservative Push
When asked if the final titles could be put into another reconciliation package, Lucas was clear: “You obviously can’t put this last set of titles in a reconciliation package. Couldn’t do that the first time.” While acknowledging some conservative Republicans still want another reconciliation bill, Lucas dismissed the idea as impractical. “Some of my very conservative Republican House colleagues would like to have one, but I truly believe by the time we finish funding the government and doing these other issues, it will be New Year’s Eve.”
