Budget reconciliation isn’t new, but it hasn’t been used to reshape core farm bill programs until now, according to Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation’s Director of National Affairs Tyler Wenzlaff.
The House Agriculture Committee passed its budget reconciliation this week. Wenzlaff notes that legislators have said they want to have it up for a House vote before Memorial Day. Several provisions will be beneficial to Wisconsin farmers, he says.
- Increasing the dairy Tier I cap
- Investing in agriculture research
- Bolstering trade promotion
- Strengthening the farm safety net
The budget reconciliation bill includes about 90 percent of what would normally be in a Farm Bill, Wenzlaff explains. There were still some provisions on the table for a traditional Farm Bill package, including year-round E15.
SNAP
Congressman Derrick Van Orden voted to pass the House Agriculture Committee’s budget reconciliation bill.
“Transparency, sustainability, accountability: these are the three things this bill delivers for the American people,” he says. “Being fiscally responsible and protecting benefits for vulnerable Americans can exist in the same universe.”
He thanked Chairman Thompson for adjusting state cost-sharing responsibilities based on SNAP error rates.
“Every SNAP dollar fraudulently spent is a dollar that does not go toward feeding a hungry child. That is why we are holding states accountable for their waste, fraud, abuse, and ensuring benefits are directed to the Americans who need them most,” Van Orden says. “It is fair, proportional, and incentivizes good program management by holding high-error states accountable without dragging the states with smaller error rates, like Wisconsin, down with them.”
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