CBS News’ Kaia Hubbard, Caitlin Yilek, and Caitlin Huey-Burns reported late Wednesday evening that “House Speaker Mike Johnson scrapped a last-minute measure to avoid a government shutdown after facing opposition from fellow Republicans — including President-elect Donald Trump — who objected to billions of dollars in spending that had been added to the bill.”
“Lawmakers are facing a Friday deadline to approve new spending. The measure released Tuesday would have extended funding through March 14, but it also included disaster aid, health care policy extenders and a pay raise for members of Congress, among other provisions. The disaster relief portion of the bill alone carried a price tag of $110 billion,” Hubbard, Yilek and Huey-Burns reported. “House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, confirmed that the stopgap funding measure is dead and that the path forward is unclear.”
“‘There’s no new agreement right now,’ Scalise said,” according to Hubbard, Yilek and Huey-Burns’ reporting.
“The Office of Management and Budget told federal agencies to start communicating with employees about shutdown procedures starting at 10am tomorrow, sources familiar told CBS News late Wednesday,” Hubbard, Yilek and Huey-Burns reported. “Last Friday, the agencies were told to have their shutdown preparations in order and ready to go.”
Funding Bill Collapse Puts Ag Aid at Risk
The Hill’s Mychael Schnell reported Wednesday that “Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is looking at a plan B to fund the government ahead of Friday’s shutdown deadline as Republicans inside and outside the Capitol, including President-elect Trump and his allies, slam his spending package.”
“The back-up option Johnson is examining is a ‘clean’ continuing resolution, two sources familiar with the matter told The Hill,” Schnell reported. “That would entail dropping the additional provisions that were included in the initial 1,500-page spending package negotiated by congressional leaders, including disaster aid and economic assistance for farmers.”
President-elect Donald Trump, however, “left the door open to including farm aid and disaster assistance in a new bill” in a statement Wednesday, Agri-Pulse’s Philip Brasher reported Wednesday evening.
“‘Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country…,” Trump said, according to Brasher’s reporting.
The agriculture aid included in the original bill, according to Progressive Farmer’s Chris Clayton would have provided “$20.78 billion to help producers with disaster losses over the past two years. Another section of the bill spells out a formula to provide $10 billion in economic assistance through a formula laid out in the bill. The law would create one-time payments to producers. Economists and accountants on Wednesday had varying numbers for the level of payments provided. DTN reached out to congressional staff to ask for clarifications on those numbers.”
“The breakdown for some major crops looks like this: Corn, $43.80 per acre; Soybeans, $30.61 per acre; Wheat, $31.80 per acre; Seed cotton, $84.70 per acre; Sorghum, $41.85 per acre; Rice, $71.37 per acre,” Clayton reported. “Those payments would be subject to $125,000 payment limits that could go up to $250,000 for producers who receive 75% or more of their gross income from farming.”
“The bill also provides an extension of the current farm bill through Sept. 30, 2025. That prevents permanent law from going into effect on Jan. 1, 2025,” Clayton reported.
Some Lawmakers, Many Ag Groups Oppose Dropping Aid
Clayton reported Wednesday that “while people clamored on social media, farm groups keep telling their members to back the bill. The National Corn Growers Association and American Soybean Association cited their support for the bill. The American Farm Bureau Federation stated that its members had sent nearly 13,000 messages to lawmakers, calling on them to pass a CR with economic aid to farmers.”
In addition, Brasher reported Wednesday night that “House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson, R-Pa., told Agri-Pulse Wednesday evening he would oppose a new CR that lacks the economic assistance for farmers. The 1,547-page bill that congressional leaders unveiled Tuesday would provide $10 billion in payments to row crop farmers who have seen market prices fall below their cost of production this year.”
“‘I can’t support … the CR if it doesn’t have the economic support that we negotiated,’ Thompson said,” according to Brasher’s reporting. “He said the market relief package was popular with many lawmakers. ‘People were very appreciative of what we were able to put in there,’ Thompson said.”
“Thompson also said any new CR would need to include a one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill,” Brasher reported. “‘That would be completely unacceptable’ to omit a farm bill extension, Thompson said. ‘The ramifications of that would be significant on the agriculture industry.’“
Federal Funding Bill Collapses Putting Ag Aid at Risk was originally published by Farmdoc.
