Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman supports a two-step approach to the next farm bill, starting with risk management tools. “I’d really like to get the risk management tools done in reconciliation, set those aside, and then come back and pass a farm bill and clean up the policy things that we need to clean up.” Boozman emphasized the urgency of addressing crop insurance and reference prices first before tackling other farm bill priorities like trade and research. Boozman also raised concerns about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, pointing to a high rate of overpayments. “USDA and the Biden administration said that the overpayment rate of SNAP is $100 billion over ten years. That’s a lot of money.” While Boozman supports increasing accountability at the state level, he stressed that cutting benefits is not under consideration.
