Farm Bill will probably need an extension past Sept. 30 deadline, and is unlikely to have more work rules, chair says

Congress probably won't be able to pass a new Farm Bill before the current one expires Sept. 30, and when it does, it's unlikely to contain new work requirements for the nation's main nutrition program, the chair of the House Agriculture Committee told Politico Tuesday.

Congress often misses its Farm Bill deadlines, sometimes by a year or more, despite early vows to move with due speed and complete work on time," notes AgInsider of the Food and Environment Reporting Network. The last two bills have been delayed by Republican efforts to expand work requirements in the Supplemantal Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.

Rep. Glenn T. Thompson, R-Pa.

House Agriculture Committee Chair G.T. Thompson told Politico that he doesn't expect additional work requirements to be in the new bill, and that the current bill will probably need an extension beyond Sept. 30. Jerry Hagstrom of DTN/The Progressive Farmer reports, "Thompson said he hopes to hold a markup on the Farm Bill in mid-September and will release a draft before the markup." he told Hagstrom, "Sept. 30 is uncomfortably close."

The Senate Agriculture Committee hasn't released a draft, either, and "It is a remarkably late start for broad-spectrum legislation that usually requires a legislative marathon for passage," AgInsider says. The committee chairs and minority-party ranking members "quietly acknowledged the challenge of the calendar after meeting President Biden at the White House on May 11. In the first sentence of a joint statement, they said they discussed with Biden 'the importance of passing a bipartisan Farm Bill this year.'"

UPDATE, July 22: "The director of the Congressional Budget Office on Thursday pushed back against concerns that its analysts are taking too long to deliver Farm Bill cost estimates to the House and Senate ag committees and said it wasn’t practical to add staff," Agri-Pulse reports.