House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., says a Republican plan to fast-track a sweeping spending package that includes key agriculture investments is the party’s “best shot” at delivering President Donald Trump’s top goal of revamping U.S. election laws.
The bill, dubbed “reconciliation 3.0,” will be written by the House Agriculture, Armed Services, Intelligence and Administration committees, Johnson said following a GOP Conference meeting with Vice President JD Vance.
Vance told reporters Wednesday that he wanted to visit with GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill “to give a message of unity to my fellow Republicans.”
“We've accomplished a lot together over the last year and a half, but we've got to stick together and accomplish one – at least one – very big thing for the American people, which is the president's priority, the White House's priority, the entire Trump administration's priority, to actually get the Save America Act passed.”
The bill would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote, and photo identification to vote in federal elections.
The second goal of the bill is to provide supplemental funding for U.S. troops and American farmers, according to Johnson.
“It's a shame that the Democrats aren't going to help us get this done, given that a majority of Democrat voters actually want us to have election integrity in this country, but we've got a good piece of legislation to support the troops, support the farmers, and get the Save America Act passed,” Vance said.
Discussing a congressional task force that is seeking to go after fraudulent activity in programs like Medicare and Medicaid as a way to pay for the bill, Vance said while fraud is an important issue, the current plan is seen as the strongest path forward.
“We're certainly going to take up the fraud task force, and we talked about actually working with some more congressional colleagues to make that happen in the future, into the fall,” Vance said.
Trump last month formally asked Congress to pass an $87.6 billion supplemental spending request to address the cost of the war in Iran that also called for $11.1 billion in additional farm aid and year-round, voluntary sales of higher ethanol blends, known as E15.
The reconciliation package would allow the House Agriculture Committee to boost federal funding by a maximum of $12 billion over the fiscal year 2027-fiscal year 2036 period. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., said reconciliation 3.0 will be the vehicle for the long-awaited farm aid package.
Thompson has a fast timeline for distributing the aid.
“Obviously as quickly as possible,” Thompson said when asked by Agri-Pulse how quickly he wants the money to reach farmers. “Yeah, they need it now.”
Farmers are increasingly relying on ad hoc farm assistance amid dangerous weather patterns, unsteady trade markets, high input costs and the added impact of the war with Iran on fuel and fertilizer prices. Thompson said the funds will go to farmers impacted by trade, the weather and economic harm.
The latest tranche of aid was announced in December 2025. The funds were issued by the USDA using funds from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ Section 5 authority through the Commodity Credit Corporation. The department’s Farm Service Agency launched the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program to provide a one-time payment for traditional row crop farmers, amounting to $11 billion in aid. The program also provided $1.625 billion for specialty crops.
Thompson said “we’re going to see” if the latest batch of aid through the reconciliation package will be distributed through FBA or another USDA program.
“We have to take into consideration the need for row crops, specialty crops and sawmills,” he said. Thompson is unsure how much money he wants to provide to specialty crop producers, though he previously called for $5 billion. “Now that I’ve been given a number, we’ll have to see,” he said.
The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance in January put out a press release urging Congress to provide at least $5 billion in aid for specialty crops.
“This support is critical to the continued sustainability of American agriculture and the communities specialty crop growers serve,” SCFBA wrote at the time. “Specialty crops – including fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, nursery, greenhouse, and floriculture products – generate more than $75 billion annually in U.S. agricultural cash receipts, account for more than one-third of all U.S. crop sales, and support rural economies nationwide.”
The specifics of what the ag portion of the legislation will include remains to be seen. Thompson will have to figure out how to divvy up the monies.
House Agriculture General Farm Commodities, Risk Management, and Credit Subcommittee Chairman Austin Scott, R-Ga., said in a statement to Agri-Pulse that he is looking forward to working with his colleagues to address the “challenges threatening our U.S. farm economy” as the reconciliation process continues.
“This reconciliation framework provides $12 billion for targeted investments in agriculture policy and gives the House Agriculture Committee the ability to build upon the work we’ve done to support our nation’s farmers,” Scott said.
Committee Democrats appear out of the loop on the farm aid reconciliation resolution.
Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C., and Jim McGovern, D-Mass., both said they hadn't seen the legislation as of Wednesday afternoon.
The $12 billion number might be too low for Democrats to back. McGovern said he doesn’t think that is enough money to help out farm country, but he declined to comment more on the package until he’s had a chance to review it.
Thompson declined to say if he thinks the $12 billion will be enough for farm country. “That’s the number I had to work with,” he said.
Reconciliation 3.0 could be met with some GOP resistance because it lacks an offset, meaning it will be adding to the deficit without finding savings elsewhere. Thompson didn’t seem concerned about a lack of offset.
“Not my call. That’s really the administration’s call,” Thompson said. “I just appreciate the fact that the strength of the agriculture – the farm coalition – was recognized and was included within this package. It's a pretty narrow package.”
The reconciliation plan addresses funding for the military and agriculture producers. Any attempt to add E15 to the reconciliation bill is likely to be met with resistance given that none of the four committees writing the legislation has jurisdiction over the issue.
Other congressional committees also will be allowed to increase funding levels: House Armed Services Committee, $60 billion; House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, $13 billion; and House Administration Committee, $10 billion for the Save America Act.
Johnson said the House Budget Committee is expected to approve a budget resolution Thursday, with the full House passing it next week. The measure would then go to the Senate, where the goal is to pass it before the next recess starts in early August. Then the four instructed House committees will start writing the reconciliation bill itself, he said.
For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.
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