FARM BILL COUNTDOWN: Another eventful week lies ahead as the House farm bill markup approaches and key players jockey over final policy details. House Ag Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) released a title-by-title overview of the current House farm bill draft ahead of the upcoming May 23 markup. We’re expecting him to unveil the full bill text around Friday. Senate Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) released her own, rival farm bill plans ahead of the House markup. Stabenow, who is retiring in January, and her team are pressing vulnerable House Democrats to rally around that framework and vote against the Thompson-led House farm bill. She’s set to meet with House Ag Democrats and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to discuss the farm bill this week, after their meeting last week was postponed. Senior Democrats, however, haven’t told some House Ag Democrats that key pieces of their marker bills are in the final House draft. Ranking member David Scott (D-Ga.) and his team negotiated a majority of the legislation with Thompson in recent months. AT-RISK DEMS: That’s putting a handful of House Democrats’ most at-risk members this fall in an increasingly tough spot ahead of the May 23 committee vote — a decision that, depending on how it plays out, could cost them ahead of a tough campaign season. Thompson alluded to the pressure on House Democrats to oppose the House farm bill, saying Friday: “There exists a few, loud armchair critics that want to divide the Committee and break the process.” “A farm bill has long been an example of consensus, where both sides must take a step off the soapbox and have tough conversations,” Thompson added. BILL BREAKDOWN: A partisan struggle over limited new funding is at the center of the congressional logjam on the $1.5 trillion reauthorization. Democrats have balked at Thompson’s plans to pay for the farm bill, which include restricting the Agriculture secretary’s authority over USDA’s internal Commodity Credit Corporation and limiting future updates to the Thrifty Food Plan. Thompson also plans to reinvest some of that money in nutrition programs. Farm transitions: The House farm bill reauthorizes the Commission on Farm Transitions-Needs for 2050 and makes improvements based on House Ag Democrat Yadira Caraveo’s (Colo.) bipartisan legislation. Farmland tracking: The bill will also reform reporting requirements under the Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure Act to better track Chinese and other foreign entities buying U.S. farmland. The issue is a hot topic on Capitol Hill, especially as the GOP seeks to crack down on Beijing. The independent Government Accountability Office found reporting holes in the federal government’s system to track foreign land purchases. In a January report, GAO recommended that USDA and other agencies coordinate more efficiently to provide public data on foreign investments and purchases of farmland. Cannabis v. hemp: As we scooped last week, a fight over cannabis and hemp policy is one of the biggest policy fights left for the House farm bill. Thompson told our Morning Cannabis colleagues that whether to address the intoxicating hemp loophole in the 2018 farm bill will be “one of the more interesting debates and discussions” for new legislation. SENATE FARM BILL FIGHT: Republicans have also questioned whether there's enough money to pay for Stabenow’s farm bill proposal, since she hasn’t released CBO scores or the full bill text. Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas, the top Republican on the Senate Ag Committee, told MA last week that he estimated Stabenow's plans would require an additional $20 billion in funding. A Stabenow spokesperson said the bill is paid for with the $5 billion in additional funding she has told senators in recent months that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is taking from the Finance Committee for the farm bill. Again, it’s hard to know for sure until there’s full bill text.
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