WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a lifelong farmer and senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, is calling on Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Democrats to move forward with a bipartisan Farm Bill in short order. In a letter today to Schumer, Grassley pointed out the Farm Bill’s notable absence from Schumer’s recent outline of the Senate’s agenda. Grassley is urging the Majority Leader to hold true to his commitment to seek compromise with Republicans by passing a five-year Farm Bill reauthorization this year.
 
“A one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill is going to expire on September 30. The Senate must work to pass a bipartisan Farm Bill before that deadline,” Grassley urged Schumer. “Farmers across the United States deserve the stability of a new five-year Farm Bill. A one-year extension increases uncertainty in markets and uncertainty for farmers who must make decisions today that will affect their operations for years to come.”
 
“The American people have been expecting a new Farm Bill for over six months. Historically, the Farm Bill has been one of the most bipartisan bills that Congress passes,” Grassley continued. “You said that Democrats are, ‘ready to work with [Republicans] to find compromise [...].’ So I call on you and the rest of my Democratic colleagues in the Senate to do the hard work of coming to the table to bring forward and pass a bipartisan Farm Bill this year.”
 
Read Grassley’s letter HERE and below. Download audio HERE. 
 
April 9, 2024
 
Honorable Charles E. Schumer
Senate Majority Leader
United States Senate
322 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
 
Dear Majority Leader Charles Schumer:
 
Last week you sent a letter to our colleagues including your plans for the coming weeks and months for the Senate. You said, "Democrats have an ambitious agenda to help the American people." Unfortunately, for the American people, the Farm Bill is not included in your agenda.
 
Of the seventeen items that you outlined for the Senate, the Farm Bill was missing. This important piece of legislation authorizes much of the work of the United States Department of Agriculture. Work, that as the USDA likes to say, touches every American every day. This includes important nutrition programs, crop insurance, conservation, rural development, research, and foreign marketing programs. Without the Farm Bill, much of this work wouldn't get done.
 
A one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill is going to expire on September 30. The Senate must work to pass a bipartisan Farm Bill before that deadline. Farmers across the United States deserve the stability of a new five-year Farm Bill. A one-year extension increases uncertainty in markets and uncertainty for farmers who must make decisions today that will affect their operations for years to come.
 
Not only that, but if we pass another one-year extension, we will be operating on a Farm Bill that is seven years old. The 2018 Farm Bill does not account for all of the changes that have occurred in the agriculture sector and rural communities since it was passed. Farmers face new input prices, technologies, and other realities such as a deficit in agricultural trade.
 
 Additionally, as the Farm Bill has been sidelined, other important bills that may otherwise have been considered in the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee have been stalled.
 
You rightly pointed out that, "with divided government, bipartisanship and compromise are theonly ways to make progress and get things done that will help the American people." The American people have been expecting a new Farm Bill for over six months. Historically, theFarm Bill has been one of the most bipartisan bills that Congress passes. You said thatDemocrats are, "ready to work with them [Republicans] to find compromise…” So I call on you and the rest of my Democratic colleagues in the Senate to do the hard work of coming to the table to bring forward and pass a bipartisan Farm Bill this year.
 
Sincerely,
 
Charles E. Grassley
United States Senator
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