Farm Bill Fails in the Senate

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Boozman

2:39

The Senate Farm Bill remains stalled over a dispute of SNAP provisions. Democrats are seeking more time before new requirements tied to state error rates take effect. Meanwhile, Republicans argue farmers shouldn't be held responsible for problems they don't control. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Bozeman says Republicans have already offered more time, and they're not willing to go much further.

“It's very difficult, was very difficult to strike the deal that we got. As far as going further with the Democrats simply trying to blackmail us, the answer is no. Every time we have a farm bill, every time we have a bill concerning farmers now, they'll bring up some unrelated event and then try and say, well, you know, we're not going to do that, even though it's the right thing to do, unless you give us this or that. No farmer has any control over state error rates. A lot of our farmers, sadly, are eligible for the SNAP program. But, again, like I said, this is not their problem; it's ours," Boozman said.

The Senator says he understands why farmers are frustrated with Congress, especially as producers face growing financial pressure. He says lawmakers need to keep that pressure in mind as they work to finish the Farm Bill.

"I would ask them to look at the vote and see who voted for what. Who's been voting for what. Republicans have consistently unanimously supported this, and I'm very proud of that. We kept our members together. And the good news is, when you keep them together, they're together. They want to get this passed. And then also,

they're very willing to help the states with their problem. On the other hand,

they're not as willing to go as far as the Democrats want. And I think very, very rightfully so," Boozman said.

Bozeman says Republicans are willing to keep talking, but he sees little support

within his conference for giving Democrats additional concessions.

"What they're concerned about exclusively is this error. I think that's got them fixated,

and they've got themselves, I think, in a bind saying that they just have to have two years.

We got some indications as we were negotiating that a year would be okay. I worked really hard to get them a year, along with our leadership. And because I realized as I got into this, that there were some inequities. There were some things that we needed to work out. But a year's plenty of time," Boozman said.

He says the one year extension would give states time to address their error rates, especially because the new requirements would not take effect until 2029.

With the Senate now set to return in September, the question is whether lawmakers can find enough common ground to move the Farm Bill forward.