Big Beautiful Bill Clears House Hurdle

Overnight Thursday, the House voted 219-213 to advance President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" for debate before a final vote.  This came after hours of delays.  Republican leaders had to overcome pushback regarding changes made to the legislation in the Senate.

That final vote is expected "soon".

The key procedural vote began 6:30 p.m. Pacific Time, Wednesday, and wrapped up just after midnight.  The GOP struggled as budget hardliners opposed advancing the more expensive Senate version and demanded further negotiations.

Hanging in the balance are critical updates to the 2018 farm bill.  House Ag Chair GT Thompson argued in the Rules Committee that the tax bill contained key farm safety net improvements to reference prices, crop insurance, and livestock programs.

“These much-needed changes mitigate further un-budgeted ad hoc spending and prevent a full-blown financial crisis in farm country that could devastate the food and ag supply chain, let alone the economy," the Chairman said.

This while also boosting trade promotion, animal disease preparedness, dairy, specialty crops, and research.

Dems Contend Legislation Will Hurt Farmers

However Democrats charged the bill would cut SNAP benefits to millions, hurting farmers.

“This bill sells out our farmers and the families they feed," noted ranking Ag Democrat Angie Craig.  "Of course, we need all the elements of a Farm Bill. Mr. Chairman talked about the elements in this bill. We should be doing this is a Farm Bill, a full five-year farm bill with 12 bipartisan titles.”

Democrat opposition to reforming SNAP to save dollars for farm programs stymied earlier farm bill attempts, prompting the GOP to put reforms and farm bill updates in the Trump tax bill and added Ag-related tax breaks.

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