Senate Farm Bill Markup Draws 42 Amendments on MCOOL, $310,000 Payment Caps and $2 Billion Conservation
Updated
Updated · DTN The Progressive Farmer · Aug 3
Senate Farm Bill Markup Draws 42 Amendments on MCOOL, $310,000 Payment Caps and $2 Billion Conservation
3 articles · Updated · DTN The Progressive Farmer · Aug 3
Summary
Forty-two amendments were filed ahead of Thursday’s Senate Agriculture Committee markup, opening fights over mandatory country-of-origin labeling, tighter farm payment limits, base-acre updates and restored conservation funding.
The proposals would reshape core farm programs: Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s base-acre update says it could lift safety-net support roughly 20%, while Sen. Peter Welch seeks a $310,000 cap per farming operation and stricter “actively engaged” rules.
Conservation and livestock competition are also in play, with Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bennet moving to restore $2 billion for EQIP and Sen. Chuck Grassley pushing a meatpacking investigator office plus revived Packers and Stockyards rules.
The amendment rush tests Chairman John Boozman’s bipartisan strategy, especially after Democrats rejected a one-year SNAP cost-sharing delay and Republicans floated a compromise using either FY2026 or FY2027 error-rate data.
The bill’s path out of committee remains uncertain because Sen. Mitch McConnell is absent, leaving Republicans short of votes for a strictly partisan advance and needing at least one Democrat if the panel splits along party lines.