Senator Roger Marshall’s Statement on Senate Democrats Farm Bill Framework Release

Topeka, KS– U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D., a member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, issued the following statement after the Chairwoman, Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), released the Democrats’ Farm Bill framework unexpectedly without Republicans input.

“Putting pen to paper on the Farm Bill is long overdue and is welcomed by our farmers and ranchers as the next step in negotiations. As you might expect, the proposal, in its current form, largely reflects the Democrat priorities of more spending in the nutrition title and the addition of many new climate change provisions. Unfortunately, it doesn’t put the ‘Farm’ back in the Farm Bill and falls short on the crop insurance and commodity reference price needs of the farmer,” Senator Marshall said. “We generally support nutrition programs, but they have grown from $60B a year under the last Farm Bill to a staggering $180B yearly, with minimal accountability. On the other hand, while farmers have seen exploding input costs, high-interest rates, and a record drop in farm income, it appears my colleagues across the aisle still did not include a modest $400M a year request to help the farmer.”

“We are more than willing to negotiate, but we need a partner that wants to focus on the full-time farm family and comes to the table to discuss our shared priorities,” Senator Marshall said. “Beyond these issues, there remains overly prescriptive conservation policies that will block many producers from using successful programs like EQIP. We’ve got work to do, and I have confidence we can succeed, but I want a bill that will best support producers for the next five years.”