Last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill included updates to commodity programs, crop insurance, and important tax changes. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane says this week’s House farm bill action is the next important step. “It’s always a grind to get the farm bill across the finish line, but clearing this hurdle in the House, getting through what was an incredibly dramatic and sort of suspenseful couple days in the Rules Committee, making it to the House floor, and a lot of challenges for Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team to hold that Republican caucus together with some bomb throwers on the fringe of the party, making life complicated, it’s really important to recognize what a big deal this is.” There’s different math in the Senate, with 60 votes necessary for passage. Timing is also critical. “When we get to the end of July, there are going to be no more real work days in session between August 1 and the election,” Lane told RRFN. “That leaves a few legislative days here in May, June, and July, with a lot of breaks there, plus a lot of other business. We want to give all the support we can to Chairman Bozeman to get just that done, but it’s important to manage expectations.”
