The $1.5 trillion farm bill that lawmakers are expected to advance this week is pitting Democratic climate priorities against the political realities of an election year. About a dozen swing-district House Democrats are facing pressure from party leadership to oppose the bill, introduced last week by House Agriculture Chair Glenn “G.T.” Thompson of Pennsylvania. But jeopardizing timely passage of the five-year, must-pass policy package might not go over well with rural voters come November. Thompson’s farm bill includes a number of bipartisan compromises — including a sizable boost to conservation funding and, notably, a reversal of a provision that banned low-income Americans with a felony drug conviction from accessing food assistance. But it would eliminate the climate focus of conservation programs that Democrats had won in President Joe Biden’s 2022 signature climate law, writes Marc Heller. That has prompted Democrats to rally around a competing bill put forward by Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, which includes the Inflation Reduction Act’s “climate-smart” agriculture funding, along with other climate provisions. Politics aside, the nation’s agricultural industries have already been smacked around by a changing climate. The United States has over 2 million farms. Half the country’s land is used for growing crops and is sensitive to shifting weather patterns and more permanent changes to the climate, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The threats are significant. Temperature changes can upend where certain crops are able to grow, disrupting supply chains. An increase in heavy rainfall can erode the soil, depleting nutrients and increasing agricultural runoff into nearby waters. That can harm water quality and kill fish that coastal economies rely on. Not to mention the threat to agricultural workers, who face exposure to more frequent and intense heat waves. Stabenow told reporters last week that even with the climate stipulation in her farm bill, the majority of conservation projects farmers take on would remain eligible for federal funding. Dismissing accusations that his bill is untenable, Thompson defended the measure, saying it “is the product of extensive feedback” from those with a direct stake in the bill. He told POLITICO reporter Meredith Lee Hill in a recent interview that his proposal puts the “farm” back in the farm bill “in a serious way.” But Democratic leaders have made it clear they will not support the farm bill as Thompson wrote it. That means farm-district Democrats — such as Angie Craig of Minnesota and Jim Costa of California — face the prospect of voting against the main agriculture policy bill. A tough spot, indeed.
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