A Battle Is Brewing over Biden's Agriculture-Focused Climate Agenda

by Meredith Lee Hill (Politico Pro) A likely Republican takeover of the House and possibly the Senate is threatening Biden’s agriculture-focused climate agenda he plans to tout at COP27. -- President Joe Biden will take to the stage on Friday at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to tout historic investments his administration has made in addressing climate change through agriculture.

But key Republican lawmakers, who are expected to take power in the House, are making their own plans to crack down on what they describe as a firehouse of federal money going toward climate programs, mostly through the Agriculture Department, with limited oversight.

Senior USDA officials privately say they are bracing for a barrage of GOP oversight probes. That could happen if Rep. G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) takes over leadership of the House Agriculture Committee and Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) heads the Senate Agriculture Committee — should the GOP win both chambers, though a runoff for the Georgia Senate seat could delay the final determination until early December.

Biden administration officials often argue the agriculture sector is on the “front lines” of climate change, especially as unrelenting drought hits farmers and food systems across the American west, Africa and the parched fields in Egypt, which is hosting the U.N. climate event. During his speech, the president plans to highlight billions in federal funding his administration and Democrats in Congress have put toward incentivizing agriculture practices his administration has dubbed “climate-smart,” including nearly $20 billion in Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act law, according to two Biden officials. READ MORE

Excerpt from AgWeb: If Republicans gain control of the House that will shift the leadership of the House Ag Committee to Pennsylvania's G.T. Thompson. But election watchers like Jessica Schulken, Principal, with The Russell Group says with such a narrow majority it will make compromise the key for writing a new farm bill because Thompson can't assume he'll have all the Republican votes he'll need to pass the legislation. "He’ll then need to look at his ranking member Mr. Scott and cut a deal with him and so what you will likely see is maybe a little more of a compromise farm bill because there will have to be some more Democratic involvement than there may have been otherwise." But she says Thompson has different priorities than Scott with less emphasis on research and climate smart ag and more on the farm safety net and overall spending cuts.

Schulken says Senate control is still up for grabs based on three key races, but it will be a slim margin either way. "In the Senate, you know it takes 60 votes to pass anything. So, what you’ll see come out of the Senate, sort of across the board is a more bi-partisan bill than what you’ll see in the House."

She says if Democrat Debbie Stabenow retains leadership, she’ll defend IRA funding. But even if Republican John Boozman takes over, the focus will be on the nutrition title of the farm bill, which has seen rapidly rising costs since the 2018 bill. According to Schulken, "Overall over a 20 to 25% increase to SNAP costs, so there’s certainly going to be pretty significant looks at if there’s a way to reign any of those in." In fact, Schulken expects whoever controls Congress to try to slow the runaway spending that starting during COVID, which will impact all ag programs.

The Senate Ag Committee isn’t missing a beat with leaders Stabenow and Boozman announcing a series of hearings on the farm bill starting next week. So, they’ll be getting right to work even though who's in the majority won’t be known until early next month. READ MORE