800 Day Overdue Milestone Nears As Congress Continues to Fail to Enact a New Farm Bill

Epic failure reaches infamous mark on Tuesday, December 9.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Tuesday, December 9, will mark a sad and frustrating new milestone for Iowa and national farmers. That date will be the 800th day of failure by Congress to pass a new Farm Bill after the old five year law expired on September 30, 2023.

The Farm Bill sets the basic farm policy for the nation . It is vital to ensuring that farm policies are up to date and appropriate for changing conditions.

The old Farm Bill - which is no more - was last written in 2018. Have things changed in your life since 2018 - seven years ago?

Of course they have.

They have for farmers, too: runaway inflation for everything they buy; policy changes that reduce demand for what they sell; tariffs that decimate foreign markets; changing weather patterns due to global warming; foreign buyers moving to more stable markets and more reliable sellers.

Just to name a few.

Yet, as of Tuesday, it will be 800 days since the Farm Bill - that was written seven years ago, soon to be eight - expired with no new Farm Bill enacted to update and replace it, legislation that aims to ensure farm policies keep up with the changing circumstances in which farm producers operate.

When members of Iowa’s current congressional delegation were running for election prior to the expiration of the old Farm Bill, they all talked big about it. They talked about how important it was, how urgent and important changes needed to be made in it. They had policy changes they wanted to make.

But then, Republicans in Congress got a whiff of a possible Trump victory in the 2024 elections and sat on their hands re: a new Farm Bill from that point on. As they do with most things these days, they turned it all over to Trump. Who, it turn out, couldn’t have been less interested in good farm policy.

That sense of urgency and importance they talked about? It disappeared.

The expiration date approached and nothing happened.

The old Farm Bill expired and nothing happened.

A new entirely Republican Congress and a new Republican President came to town. They were in the driver’s seat. Their party was in charge. Of everything.

And nothing happened to advance a new Farm Bill.

Iowa’s congressional delegation - all six of them - turned into the “Silent Six” on this legislation critically important to Iowa.

They adopted a strategy of “radio silence” about the Farm Bill as the days turned into weeks, which turned into months, which have now turned into years with no new Farm Bill.

When was the last time you heard lately of any of them doing anything to advance a new Farm Bill - even during the months long vacation the House took this summer to avoid a vote on releasing the Epstein files.

There was plenty of time to act on a Farm Bill then. But there was nothing,

The “Silent Six” stayed silent.

What makes all this particularly galling is that four of Iowa’s six person House and Senate delegation are official members of the House or Senate Agriculture Committees.

For the record, the four who have a special duty and obligation to move a new Farm Bill through Congress and into law because of their membership on those Ag Comittees are: U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Joni Ernst (R-IA); and Representatives Zach Nunn (R-3rd IA) and Randy Feenstra (R-4th IA).

The other two Iowans in Congress, Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-1st IA) and Ashley Hinson (R-2nd IA) also have an obligation to work to pass a new Farm Bill, given its importance to Iowa, where farming is a linch pin of many local and regional economies, as well as statewide.

It’s difficult to find any evidence that any of them have said or done anything since the the old Farm Bill lapsed to get a new one enacted.

They have all certainly earned the moniker “the Silent Six” on the Farm Bill.

There’s been no horn honking from any of them to get a new Farm Bill enacted after the old one expired.

They’ve chosen other priorities: hyper partisanship, and in the case of Hinson and Feenstra who are apparently proud of not doing their jobs, campaigning to give themselves a promotion.

Hinson is trying to promote herself from the House to the Senate.

Feenstra is trying to promote himself to be Iowa’s next Governor.

Based on their records - especially regarding the continuing failure to pass a new Farm Bill for 800 days, and their apparent comfort with that failure - the very idea that they have earned a promotion is laughable.

Miller-Meeks and Nunn are no better.

They are spending the bulk of their energies - not working to pass a new Farm Bill - but obviously, and in Nunn’s case, comically - maneuvering to get themselves re-elected despite not doing their jobs. (Not that Nunn didn’t try to promote himself to Governor. He went to the White House to ask Donald Trump for permission to run and Trump said an immediate “No.” A very odd way to start a campaign for Governor of Iowa, anyway, if you ask me.)

As of Sunday, December 7, a new Farm Bill is overdue 798 days.

On Tuesday, December 9, the failure by Congress to do its jobs reaches its 800th day. Failure on that scale deserves some kind of acknowledgment.

You might want to call or write your elected US House and US Senate members on Tuesday and let them know you’ve noticed the 800th Day anniversary is at hand - and ask them to do their jobs: enact a new Farm Bill.

Overdue Farm Bill Tracker

The Overdue Farm Bill Tracker is a weekly feature of the “Barry Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains” column. As of Sunday, December 7, the new Farm Bill is 798 days overdue, a colossal failure by Congress to do its job for Iowa and American farmers. This week’s column focuses on this failure.

Check back next week for an update.

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