The Senate's farm bill will likely align closely with the House GOP version, but could also feature language to authorize year-round sales of E15, Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said Monday.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., told Agri-Pulse last week he is aiming to introduce and mark up a Senate farm bill in the coming months. The House Agriculture Committee, meanwhile, plans to begin marking up its own bill on Tuesday.
“We meet with GT. We're on the same page,” Hoeven said in a brief interview on Capitol Hill Monday, referring to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa. Accordingly, Hoeven added, the Senate bill will “mostly” align with the House text.
One difference, however, could be the inclusion of a proposal to authorize year-round sales of higher ethanol fuel blends, known as E15.
“We'd like to have year-round E15 [included],” Hoeven said. “I don’t know if that’s going to come out of the House or not…. If it doesn't, we're going to try to have it.”
Thompson’s farm bill text does not currently feature language on E15. House lawmakers on a council headed by Reps. Randy Feenstra, R-Iowa, and Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., missed a Feb. 15 deadline to come up with a new E15 bill proposal after opposition from oil refiners tanked an effort to get legislation into a must-pass funding bill earlier this year.
Any Senate farm bill would have to garner 60 votes on the floor to pass, which means securing some Democratic support. And without the inclusion of more funding for nutrition assistance, which has historically been part of farm bill compromises, it is unclear how Republicans could court those Democratic votes.
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Tying year-round E15 to the farm bill could help its prospects among Democrats, Hoeven said.
“Part of the challenge is getting them on board,” he said. “I think E15 may help,” but he added that Democrats are going to be looking at how issues like conservation programs will be handled in any final bill.
“I'm hoping that we'll be able to get them, but we'll have to see,” Hoeven said.
Hoeven added that he will be closely watching the House markup this week for any Democratic support.
“How it comes out of there will make a difference,” he said.
One area of the bill that should receive some bipartisan support, Hoeven added, will be a section focused on increasing limits for Agriculture Department loan programs.
The proposal, reintroduced in November by Hoeven and Senate Ag's top Democrat, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, would increase the loan limits for the Farm Service Agency’s direct and guaranteed loan programs for farm operating loans and farm ownership loans and microloan program. It would also change the inflation benchmarks used for guaranteed ownership loans.
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