House Democrats are charting a new path to writing a farm bill this year with the formation of a special leadership-appointed task force that’s working on recommendations for the legislation.
The Democrats’ task force, which was appointed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., in May, has been conducting roundtables and listening sessions with plans to create a list of Democratic recommendations for the upcoming farm bill, according to Rep. Bennie Thompson, a veteran Democrat from Mississippi, who is chairing the group. The group is aiming to compile its recommendations by the end of this month, he said.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, however, says the task force looks to be sidestepping the committee’s ranking member, David Scott, a 78-year-old Georgia Democrat who became the first Black lawmaker to chair the committee in 2021.
“I’m very supportive of ranking member Scott. He’s a good man and a good friend. And, so, it seems like it’s an end-run around him,” Thompson said.
Democratic congressional aides denied that was the case. They insisted that Scott and his staff are very much in the loop, comparing the task force’s role to House GOP leadership working with Thompson on the farm bill. Several committee aides, including Ashley Smith, the deputy minority staff director, sat behind task force members at a listening session the group held last week at the Capitol.
“We are thrilled that the leader’s office has organized another forum to gather additional input by way of the Democratic Caucus Agriculture and Food Task Force, and House Agriculture Democrats look forward to reviewing its findings once it is delivered to the committee,” a spokesperson for the House Ag Committee’s minority staff said in a statement to Agri-Pulse.
“Like all congressional committees, the House Agriculture Committee welcomes input from a variety of sources, and working with leadership task forces is something that's been done over the last decade on several issues—but we do not outsource our policymaking,” the spokesperson said.
Bennie Thompson, who is also the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said it is common for House leaders to create task forces to analyze legislative priorities.
“We do task forces all the time,” he said. “This is not unusual.”
Veteran lobbyists who have worked on multiple farm bills told Agri-Pulse they were unaware of task forces being used previously in this way by the minority party. One lobbyist, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it "can't be a happy place" for Scott but noted that Democrats can bring in far more of their witnesses to a task force meeting than they can to committee hearings, which are organized by the Republican majority.
Another lobbyist, who has a Republican background, said it "is true that task forces get formed all the time (in Congress), especially by the minority party trying to get a little visibility on their take on a major issue.”
The Democrats’ farm bill task force held one major roundtable last week, though members have also held listening sessions in other states, including Connecticut, Mississippi and California, according to Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn. While nutrition is one main focus, Hayes said the group’s farm bill interests include a broad swath of issues that include conservation and access to credit and trade, among other things.
Three members of the task force — Hayes and Reps. Chellie Pingree of Maine and Jim McGovern of Massachusetts — are members of the Agriculture Committee, which writes the farm bill. A fourth House Ag member, Sharice Davids of Kansas, was appointed to the task force but later withdrew due to scheduling conflicts, an aide said.
Pingree also sits on the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, as does task force member Mark Pocan, D-Wis. The subcommittee writes the annual spending bills for USDA and FDA.
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Bennie Thompson served on the House Ag Committee earlier in his career.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)McGovern also told Agri-Pulse last week that there’s no “conflict” or “tension” between the groups. He said he believes the insight gained by the task force from meetings and listening sessions will be “wind at the back of the ag committee.”
“I’m not the chair of the task force,” McGovern said. “But I sit next to David and there’s one person between us and I’ve never heard him express anything other than support for what we’re doing and vice versa.”
McGovern also said the task force is an opportunity for Democrats to “go on the offensive” and spur conversations about the farm bill, rather than just reacting to Republican proposals. He said the listening sessions hosted by the task force members allow them to hear from voices that may not be invited to committee hearings.
Nutrition is one main focus for the task force, which Hayes says is partially due to the fact that Democrats noticed the title “was under attack in every budget talk” they had. One of her concerns is that Republicans will continue attempts to increase age limits for work requirements.
“Every time I think we’ve finished this conversation, it’s like whack-a-mole. Something else pops up and we’re relitigating it,” she said.
Bennie Thompson said Democrats “are not going to support a farm bill that’s punitive towards the most vulnerable people in this country.”
Another topic of discussion for the task force will be the potential to move Inflation Reduction Act funding for farm bill conservation programs into the farm bill, which could make the money a permanent part of the farm bill baseline. During last week’s listening session at the Capitol, Bennie Thompson expressed support for doing just that.
Corrects to say that Davids withdrew from the task force, according to staff.
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