Sen. Mitch McConnell’s return to the Capitol this week gives Senate Republicans back the vote they were missing when their farm bill stalled in committee last month. It doesn’t give them a deal.
The Kentucky Republican, back after a three-month absence following a June fall, cast his first Senate vote Monday. “I’m here to work on the farm bill,” McConnell said Tuesday.
Senate Agriculture Chairman John Boozman has scheduled the committee to reconvene Wednesday afternoon to try again to advance the Agricultural Act of 2026, the same package that failed on a party-line 10-11 vote in August because of McConnell’s absence.
But the fate of the farm bill remains uncertain, along with the future of its programs and funding that are essential to the agricultural industry, as farmers are squeezed financially by tariffs, higher input prices — including major cost increases for diesel and fertilizer prices — and extreme weather and drought.
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It’s unclear how Republicans could get Democratic support to pass the Senate version on the floor, or whether the Senate and House can work out differences between the two chambers’ versions of the measure.
Farmers from across the country have descended on D.C. this week to encourage lawmakers to pass a bill. Congress has extended the 2018 version of the farm bill as a stopgap, which means commodity prices have not been updated to match inflation, so farmers receive only about 80% of every dollar they are intended to receive in subsidies.
That extension runs out September 30, but most programs will be funded through the end of the year.
Aaron Heley Lehman, president of the Iowa Farmers Union, said farmers would be extremely discouraged if Congress is unable to help them when they need it most.
“They need help with rising input prices, with chaotic markets and with less support from USDA offices. All those things going against them and we can’t have our policy leaders come together and create a comprehensive farm bill to provide some stability,” Lehman said. “We’re getting a sense that they are hearing from constituents, but we haven’t seen that translate into action.”
Boozman has stressed that farmers’ input and experiences directly shaped the legislation.
The Senate’s farm bill “is about giving the people who produce our food, protect our land and sustain our rural communities the tools and certainty they need to succeed,” Boozman said in a statement. “The committee must advance this bill, and I look forward to doing so this week.”
Even with full attendance, the committee’s Republicans and Democrats remain stuck on the same fight that sank the bill in August: how long to delay a new requirement that states pick up part of the cost of SNAP benefits. Boozman has offered a one-year delay; ranking member Amy Klobuchar and Senate Democrats have held firm on two years.
Klobuchar and Democrats argue it’s unfair to reward states with high payment-error rates with more time than everyone else, pointing to a deal made during the passage of the One Big Beautiful bill last year. Alaska, which has the highest error rates in the country, received a carve-out to garner the vote of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).
Klobuchar’s office did not respond to a request for comment, but there’s no indication that the Democrats’ stance on the SNAP cost shifts has changed.
The bill needs 60 votes to clear a filibuster — a bar Republicans can’t hit on their own. Even if the Senate passes it, that version must be reconciled with the House-passed farm bill, which cleared the House in late April.
The biggest gap between the House and the Senate versions of the bill start with the SNAP cost shift, with the House version not including any cost shift delay. The House also removed a provision allowing year-round sales of E15 gasoline, something members from both parties want to be included in farm bill, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
The bill has also faced backlash from members of the Make America Healthy Again movement. A provision that would provide pesticide manufacturers important to the agriculture industry protection from lawsuits was stripped on the House floor. Another provision that pushes back the timeline for the EPA’s review of certain chemicals has also drawn ire from the MAHA crowd.
“The Farm Bill as it stands is anti-MAHA, whoever votes for it, should understand this,” Vani Hari, a MAHA influencer, said on X. “Call your Senator today - and have them vote no... Chemical companies will get another 5 year free pass with no review by the EPA!”
Agriculture staffers on both sides of the aisle are unsure where the bill will go next, with staffers telling The Washington Sun that it can’t pass without an agreement on the SNAP debate.
“I think we’re all a bit confused about what’s next,” one agriculture staffer told The Sun.
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