HOUSE ELECTION WATCH: Most House and Senate Agriculture Committee members successfully won their reelection bids, avoiding a major shake-up in rank-and-file membership. Thus far, only Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) lost their races. Rep. Yadira Caraveo (D-Colo.) conceded on Sunday in a major hit to House Democrats' hopes of winning a House majority. A handful of incumbents — like Reps. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), John Duarte (R-Calif.) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.) — are still waiting for results. But expect significant changes in ag leadership due to election results — and changes in who has leverage for the rest of 2024 as members try to nail down some kind of a farm bill by the end of the year. Congress is coming back this week (send your hosts good vibes and caffeine) for the first time post-election. Here’s what we’re looking out for. ON THE FARM BILL: Ag lawmakers haven’t made any real progress in the past few months on a new farm bill reauthorization. Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) has yet to make a major push to clinch a deal before she retires in January. But, lawmakers expect her to put out a statement on her position in the coming days after Democrats’ shellacking in the elections. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the incoming top Senate Ag Democrat, however has been telling people she wants to get a farm bill deal done in the lame duck so it’s off lawmakers’ plate next year. What to watch: Ag lawmakers will likely push for adding a one-year farm bill extension to a federal funding stop-gap measure or another must-pass bill before the end of the year, along with some money for commodity farmers reeling from economic losses and the so-called farm bill “orphan programs” around conservation, energy, research and more. Disaster aid: Funding that ag lawmakers are seeking for farmers hit by major natural disasters will be a fight that goes through the appropriations committees. 2025 GOP goals: Beyond the lame duck session, Republicans are targeting climate-friendly agriculture dollars and future nutrition spending as potential pieces of any 2025 budget reconciliation package, as Meredith reported Friday. IRA $: On the table in those talks is rescinding roughly $13 billion in unspent so-called climate-smart agriculture dollars that Democrats have hailed as a major achievement as part of their signature climate law. President Joe Biden's administration has already deployed billions in such funding as subsidies to pay farmers to adopt greener practices, in order to achieve his goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. Democrats used the same budget process to approve the original $20 billion in initial climate-agriculture funding as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which they passed on party lines. SNAP: Republicans are also considering using the package to limit future updates to the Thrifty Food Plan, which serves as the basis to calculate SNAP benefits. That could happen if Republicans win a trifecta of power by retaining their majority in the House, as they’re in a strong position to do after Caraveo’s defeat Sunday, enabling them to use the budget process to pass a sweeping reconciliation package with GOP-only votes next year. That would spur deep backlash from Democrats, who would have little power to stop it. Trump’s position: Republican lawmakers have been discussing their plans for a 2025 reconciliation package for months now. Trump has indicated that he supports clawing back unspent IRA dollars.
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