Senate Republicans have teed up a vote-a-rama today on possible amendments to their sweeping budget reconciliation bill.

Among the amendments the Senate could consider is one by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to roll back the higher commodity program payment limits in the bill.

Keep in mind: Any amendments that get adopted during the vote-a-rama that GOP leaders don’t want on the bill can be removed with a comprehensive, wraparound amendment.

In a statement, USA Rice Farmers Chair L.G. Raun said Grassley’s amendment would “significantly weaken the [bill’s] improvements by lowering the payment limits, which hurts farmers when commodity prices are lowest.”

Take note: Republicans made some significant modifications to the One Big Beautiful Bill heading into the floor debate, and there could be additional changes before the legislation gets out of the Senate

Here are a few highlights of the bill as of Sunday:

  • Alaska and Hawaii were exempted from a new state cost-share requirement, and the two states also could get an exemption from SNAP work requirements. The changes came as Republicans were trying to secure the vote of Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
  • Parents with children under 14 will remain exempt from SNAP work requirements. The House wanted to impose the work requirements on parents with children as young as 7. The Senate Ag Committee raised that to age 10. But Senate Ag Committee Chairman John Boozman told Agri-Pulse this weekend it may be difficult for some parents to leave kids alone until they’re at least 14.
  • The late changes to the 45Z clean fuels tax credit are a mixed bag. The revised version of the Senate’s budget reconciliation bill limits the credit to North American feedstocks while also reducing the extension of the credit to just two years.
  • The bill would create a $25 billion stabilization fund for rural hospitals in a bid to soften the impact of Medicaid cuts.

CBO: OBBB ag provisions save $120B

Because of the reduction in SNAP spending, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill’s agriculture provisions will cut spending by a net $120 billion over 10 years. That’s after factoring in the SNAP savings that would be shifted into farm programs.

The Price Loss Coverage program, which is especially important for southern farmers, is the big winner when it comes to farm programs. CBO estimates PLC will cost an additional $50.4 billion over 10 years, under the bill, compared to just $3.6 billion more for the Agriculture Risk Coverage program.

The crop insurance program is getting about $6 billion more.

Trump: Illegal farmworkers could get ‘temporary pass’

Trump is pledging to provide some protection from deportations for farmworkers. Trump told Fox News on Sunday that the administration will “let the farmer sort of be in charge. The farmer knows. He's not going to hire a murderer.”

Trump went on, “I'm the strongest immigration guy there's ever been. But I'm also the strongest farmer guy there's ever been. We're going to work on some kind of temporary pass where people pay taxes, where the farmer can have a little control as opposed to you walk in and take everyone away."

The week of the ‘dealmaker’ and the ‘tariff man’ 

The deadline for Trump’s reciprocal tariff reprieve is less than two weeks away, and the U.S. has penned just one trade framework so far. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is, once again, indicating that the situation could be about to change.

The former Cantor Fitzgerald CEO on Thursday previewed a slate of “imminent” trade deals that could land this week.

“We’re going to announce a whole bunch of deals over the next week or so,” Lutnick told Bloomberg. The president is “the dealmaker,” Lutnick said. “The president is going to make his calls. He’s going to decide exactly the finishing touches on them.”

But the president is also a self-professed “tariff man,” and those north of the border will be watching for which side the president shows Canadian officials this week. Trump abruptly announced an end to bilateral trade talks with Canada on Friday and suggested he could announce new tariffs soon.  

Trump can sometimes be persuaded to reconsider, however, as the European Union can attest.

Take note: Another delay to the reciprocal tariffs is always a possibility – and France’s finance minister used an interview with France’s La Tribune Dimanche on Sunday to call for more time.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged on Friday that even if the reciprocal tariffs return, talks will continue to play out. “I think we could have trade wrapped up by Labor Day,” Bessent told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo.

Vought pledge to save innovation lab sparks hope in ag innovation circles

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought told Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith last week that there could be funding available to save a fish innovation lab in her state.

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“We have no desire in this rescission package to touch that funding that seems as to be so successful,” Vought told the senator in a hearing on the administration’s effort to codify administration spending cuts.

Just one other innovation lab is set to see its funding continue uninterrupted under administration plans – a lab run by Kansas State University focused on cereal crops.

Vought’s comments were enough to spark hope in ag innovation and food security circles, a USAID official tells Agri-Pulse.

“All, not one or two, all of the Feed the Future innovation labs were earmarked by Congress,” the official said. If the administration is willing to reconsider making congressionally allocated funds available for another lab, they said, officials may be willing to “revive, literally, every single Feed the Future Innovation Lab in the future.”

SCOTUS to announce whether it will hear Roundup case

The Supreme Court is expected to announce whether it has granted a petition from Bayer seeking to resolve the question: Does the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act pre-empt “failure to warn’ claims brought in state court.

The court met in conference Thursday to consider that petition and others. The case is critical to Bayer’s efforts to address thousands of pending Roundup lawsuits. The petition stems from a case in Missouri state court where a plaintiff was awarded $1.25 million in damages.

Bayer has tried unsuccessfully in the past to get the question before the high court. This attempt could be successful because there’s now a split in the federal circuit courts of appeals over the issue.

Lawmakers seek study of rural weather services

Two lawmakers are seeking a federal study into rural weather monitoring gaps.

Reps. Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., and Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, have introduced the Rural Weather Monitoring Systems Act, which would require the Government Accountability Office to analyze the capacity of the weather monitoring systems in rural areas.

Take note: Layoffs and buyouts have left National Weather Service offices across the country short-staffed. 

Final word

“In Washington over the last few years, it’s become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species.” – Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., announcing Sunday that he won’t seek re-election.

Trump threatened Saturday to oppose Tillis’ re-election over his opposition to the Medicaid and clean energy cuts in the Senate’s budget reconciliation bill.

Philip Brasher, Oliver Ward and Noah Wicks contributed to today’s Daybreak.

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