After weeks of discussion, the House Agriculture Committee is finally ready today to take up its piece of the GOP’s “big, beautiful” budget reconciliation bill.
The draft text released Monday evening would cut $290 billion from nutrition assistance spending over the next 10 years and use some of the savings to increase spending on commodity programs, crop insurance and other farm bill programs.
Take note: The legislation’s farm bill highlights include increased reference prices and payment limits for commodity programs. The bill also would boost trade promotion spending and bring Inflation Reduction Act conservation funding into the farm bill baseline.
Flash point: The bill would cut projected SNAP spending by $290 billion over 10 years, relying in part on a formula requiring states to start paying part of the program’s cost. Some 23 Democratic governors criticized the GOP’s proposed cuts to SNAP as well as Medicaid: “The notion that states will respond to massive cuts to federally appropriated dollars by backfilling with state resources is simply inaccurate and impossible.”
Ways Means to debate sweeping tax proposals today
The House Republicans’ proposal for the tax portion of their budget reconciliation bill spares and extends the 45Z tax credit for clean fuel producers, while largely cutting other Inflation Reduction Act provisions.
The House Ways and Means Committee will meet this afternoon to start debating its part of the budget reconciliation bill. The draft text extends many provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and partially fulfills President Donald Trump’s promise to “end the green new scam” by repealing or phasing out IRA credits like the clean hydrogen and clean electricity investment credits.
But 45Z was not only spared but extended for an additional four years. The draft bill includes other biofuel industry asks like limiting qualifying fuel to U.S., Mexico and Canada-grown feedstocks.
Take note: It’s not a complete slam dunk for the industry. Clean Fuels Alliance America noted that a provision of the bill limiting transferability of the credit after 2027 could hurt smaller producers.
The bill is subject to change during the markup. It’s unclear whether members of the House Freedom Caucus will call for greater cuts to IRA provisions.
Even with tariff rollback, US soy to remain China’s ‘last resort’
The U.S. and China have walked back their triple-digit minimum tariffs on each other’s products. But even with the temporary relief, U.S. soybeans could still lose Chinese market share, the U.S. Soybean Export Council’s Jim Sutter tells Agri-Pulse.
China will keep 10% duties on U.S. imports, which, Sutter says, gives Brazilian soybeans about a 20% price advantage on U.S. producers.
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“It will keep us as the last resort,” Sutter said. The announcement of tariff de-escalation is “a step in the right direction,” Sutter added. But he noted that absent a deal to further lower Chinese tariffs or secure purchase commitments from Beijing to import U.S. ag products, challenges will remain for U.S. exporters.
Take note: May’s agricultural supply and demand estimates released Monday showed USDA adjusted export projections for this fiscal year up slightly, but it estimates they’ll tumble next year.
Sutter said this is likely because Chinese buyers rushed to Brazilian soy after tariffs were imposed, driving the price of Brazilian soybeans up and boosting purchases outside of China’s for U.S. soybeans.
Trump tells GOP leaders that tariffs will offset reconciliation spending
Trump spoke with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Monday to discuss the potential for tariff revenues and a new executive order on drug pricing to offset reconciliation spending.
Trump told reporters he informed the GOP leaders that they’re “going to have to — No. 1 — score hundreds of millions of dollars of tariff money coming in. But even bigger than that, you’re going to have to score that your costs for Medicaid and Medicare” and drugs are coming down.
But, but, but: The Congressional Budget Office only scores provisions included in legislation, and there has been no indication either will feature in GOP reconciliation plans.
Further, Yale’s Budget Lab estimates that in the long term, new U.S. tariffs will actually cost the government revenue because of forgone economic growth. All the tariff adjustments so far in 2025 are set to cost the U.S. $394 billion from 2026-2035, according to analysis updated Monday.
Georgia becomes second state to enact law limiting pesticide litigation
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed a bill into law to shield pesticide companies from product liability lawsuits.
The bill makes labels approved under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) sufficient to satisfy warning requirements under state civil tort law. This makes Georgia the second state to add such a law. North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong signed a similar measure last month. Both Kemp and Armstrong are Republicans
Both Bayer, which has been the target of lawsuits alleging it failed to provide adequate warnings of the dangers of its Roundup herbicide, and the Modern Ag Alliance, which includes over 100 ag groups, applauded the news.
“This law safeguards growers' access to essential inputs for food production and helps sustain Georgia’s agricultural economy,” Georgia Farm Bureau President Tom McCall said in a news release.
Also in Bayer news: A dozen farm groups have filed a brief supporting a Bayer petition that seeks Supreme Court review of the issue of FIFRA preemption.
“With manufacturers placed in the no-win situation of either disregarding state labeling requirements or making false and misleading statements in violation of FIFRA, these companies may exit the market and leave farmers without much-needed tools,” a press release from the American Soybean Association said.
UN-backed report warns of famine in Gaza without intervention
Famine in Gaza is increasingly likely without a ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access, according to a UN-backed report.
The report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification found that about 1.94 million people across the Gaza Strip are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity, with nearly 71,000 cases of acute malnutrition among children aged 6 to 59 months.
About 50 experts from 17 organizations conducted the analysis to determine the level of food insecurity on the IPC scale. They found 93% of the Gaza population is at a “crisis” level of insecurity or above. About 12% of the population is at a “catastrophe” level, meaning starvation and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident.
Final word:
"We have been heartened to see that a new culture of connection and sharing has emerged in farm country. Young farmers talk about the stress and concerns they feel, and the challenges they face in a way that was not done during the 1980s Farm Crisis. We want you to know that, even with the wave of uncertainty farmers are facing right now, the work you’re doing has never been more critical for our country.” — Willie Nelson and David Senter in a letter to young farmers posted on Barn Raiser. Nelson is a musician and Senter is founder and head of the American Agriculture Movement.
Rebekah Alvey, Oliver Ward and Noah Wicks contributed to today’s Daybreak.
