POLICY • NEWS • MARKETS
AG POLICY & MARKETS DAILY
THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2026 | SPECIAL REPORT & ANALYSIS
POLICY ANALYSIS | FARM BILL 2.0
Boozman’s Revised Offer Fails to Break Democratic SNAP Resistance
Democrats signal a two-year delay remains the price for farm bill support
Analysis · August 6, 2026
Senate Ag Committee Chairman John Boozman (R-Ark.) made another late attempt Wednesday to attract Democratic support for Farm Bill 2.0, offering states more flexibility in calculating their future Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/food stamp) cost shares and proposing additional purchases through The Emergency Food Assistance Program. (TEFAP). However, the response from ranking member Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) indicates Democrats are unlikely to support the bill during Thursday’s 9:30 a.m. ET markup unless Republicans agree to more substantial SNAP changes.
Boozman says the upcoming vote will show who is really committed to helping America’s farmers. “Hopefully, we can come together and get the votes that we need to get it out of committee,” Boozman said on social media. “If not, then it’s not going to be for lack of trying, and we’ll know who is just talking about helping farmers and who’s actually voting to help farmers.”
Boozman’s latest offer would allow states to use either fiscal year (FY) 2026 or FY 2027 payment-error-rate data when determining their FY 2029 share of SNAP benefit costs. His proposal also would increase funding for TEFAP commodity purchases, creating additional domestic demand for agricultural products while supplying food banks with U.S.-produced food.
The changes represent a meaningful improvement over Boozman’s previous proposal, but they do not meet Democrats’ central demand for a two-year delay in the new state SNAP cost-sharing requirements.
Error-rate option improves the one-year delay. Boozman’s previous draft postponed the start of benefit cost sharing for most states from FY 2028 to FY 2029 but continued using FY 2026 error rates to determine each state’s liability. States received another year before making payments but did not receive another measurement year in which to improve their performance.
The revised offer would give states that reduce their error rates during FY 2027 the option of using the later rate. States whose performance deteriorates could retain their FY 2026 figure.
That is more than a technical adjustment. It gives states an additional opportunity to improve eligibility systems, staffing, training and payment accuracy before their financial obligations are calculated. It also strengthens Boozman’s argument that Republicans are responding to concerns raised by governors, counties and state administrators.
However, the change affects how states’ liabilities would be calculated rather than providing the additional year of relief Democrats are seeking.
Klobuchar says the proposal still treats states unevenly. Klobuchar said she remains committed to working with Boozman and recognizes that the bill includes important provisions for farmers and ranchers. She also welcomed Boozman’s acknowledgment that shifting SNAP costs to states and counties presents a serious problem.
But Klobuchar said the proposal remains only a one-year solution and continues to favor states with the highest error rates. Under the underlying policy, she argued, a state with an error rate roughly twice Minnesota’s could avoid payments in the second year while states that have reduced their error rates would still face financial obligations.
Klobuchar said committee Democrats continue to seek a two-year delay so all states begin from the same position and have sufficient time to reduce their error rates. She also emphasized that the requested adjustment would restore only about 10% of the SNAP reductions enacted through the broader reconciliation package.
Her response is significant because it makes clear that Boozman’s latest concessions have not resolved the principal Democratic objection. The dispute is no longer simply over whether states can use a later error-rate measurement. It is over the length and structure of the relief itself.
TEFAP funding is helpful but insufficient. Increasing funding for TEFAP commodity purchases is politically well targeted because it benefits both sides of the traditional farm bill coalition. USDA purchases create another domestic outlet for farmers while providing food banks and emergency feeding organizations with nutritious food.
Boozman’s announcement, however, did not specify the amount of additional funding. Even a sizable increase would be unlikely to compensate Democrats for what they view as a much larger transfer of SNAP costs from the federal government to states and counties.
The TEFAP provision may help demonstrate that the bill contains nutrition investments, but Democrats are unlikely to accept increased food bank funding as a substitute for changing the state cost-sharing formula.
Committee math gives Democrats leverage. The Senate Ag Committee has 12 Republicans and 11 Democrats, but the expected absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) leaves Boozman with only 11 available Republican votes. Unless McConnell participates, Boozman needs at least one Democrat to avoid an 11-11 deadlock.
That arithmetic gives Klobuchar and committee Democrats considerable negotiating leverage. A farm-state Democrat could find several provisions in the bill worth supporting, including commodity-program updates, crop insurance improvements, year-round E15 and additional TEFAP purchases. But Klobuchar’s response suggests Democrats remain united behind the two-year SNAP demand.
Boozman told Politico that “Sen. McConnell did call me today to wish me luck” and “gave us proxies on the various” amendments he wants to weigh in on. McConnell can vote by proxy on amendments offered but not on final passage.
Republicans still signaled optimism about the bill’s chances in committee. “I’m hopeful we’ll get it passed. We really need that year-round E15,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said. “Sen. Klobuchar and I have a number of provisions in there, updating the credit limits, adding more bin storage for fertilizer, which is a huge issue.”
Voting for the bill after describing the latest offer as inadequate would also carry a political cost for any Democrat who broke ranks. Boozman therefore needs either a more substantial SNAP concession, a negotiated amendment during the markup or a private commitment from a Democrat willing to advance the bill despite the unresolved nutrition dispute.
Outlook: Democratic support now appears unlikely. Boozman’s latest offer improves the proposal and corrects a legitimate weakness in the previous version. Giving states the option to use FY 2027 data makes the delay more useful and rewards states that improve their payment accuracy.
But Klobuchar’s response indicates that the revision has not changed the fundamental vote calculation. Democrats appear unlikely to back the measure unless Boozman agrees to a two-year delay or makes another SNAP change substantial enough to place states with different error rates on more equal footing.
Upshot: The most likely outcome, absent another agreement before or during the markup, is that all 11 Democrats oppose advancing the bill and the committee deadlocks 11-11. Boozman has narrowed the disagreement, but he has not yet offered enough to unlock the Democratic vote he needs.
SIDEBAR | THE AMENDMENT LIST
Farm Bill 2.0 Amendment List Shows Broad Push to Rewrite Key Provisions
205 proposals target SNAP, farm payments, conservation, E15 and USDA oversight
The summary below contains 205 proposed first-degree amendments from 21 senators, including 180 filed by Democrats and 25 by Republicans. The largest concentrations involve miscellaneous and USDA policy, commodity programs, nutrition, conservation and forestry.
The amendment pool highlights the major unresolved disputes surrounding Farm Bill 2.0: SNAP state cost sharing, base-acre updates, payment limitations, conservation funding, year-round E15, pesticide provisions and USDA reorganization. The Democratic share of the filings suggests many proposals are intended as negotiating positions or messaging votes rather than amendments likely to be adopted.
Of the extended list of amendments detailed below, here are a few that farm bill veterans are watching particularly closely:
• Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) is seeking to add work requirements and payment limits to federal farm programs. The proposal could attract support from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a longtime advocate of farm payment caps, but has drawn opposition from Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) and major farm groups.
• Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has offered an amendment directing USDA and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to reinstate mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef.
• Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) have introduced amendments that would reverse proposed funding reductions for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. Republicans have proposed redirecting those funds to other conservation programs.
• Grassley has introduced an amendment to codify three final rules intended to strengthen enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921. Adoption would amount to a significant Republican-led rebuke of the Trump administration’s efforts to unwind the Biden-era regulations.
• Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) are expected to seek a vote on an amendment requiring a mandatory base-acre update and reinvesting the resulting savings in existing farm safety-net programs.
• Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) is expected to seek a vote on an amendment allowing SNAP benefits to be used to purchase hot rotisserie chicken.
The Senate Ag Committee is scheduled to begin marking up the Agricultural Act of 2026 at 9:30 a.m. ET today in Room 318 of the Russell Senate Office Building. The filing of amendments is not the final voting agenda: amendments may be withdrawn, modified, combined or never formally offered.
The list below identifies the primary sponsor and party-state designations.
COMMODITY PROGRAMS AND FARM SAFETY NET (30)
— Bennet #7 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Establishes a standing disaster program covering farm production or value losses, with $16 billion for 2025 and 2026 losses.
— Bennet #10 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Directs USDA to treat certain acreage not planted because of inadequate irrigation water as eligible for prevented-planting payments.
— Booker #18 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Removes inflation indexing from farm-program payment limits and eliminates special exceptions for certain corporate structures.
— Durbin #5 — Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.): Requires a mandatory base-acre update tied to crops planted in recent years rather than historical planting patterns.
— Hoeven #2 — Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.): Allows faba beans, lupin beans and dry edible beans to be planted on base acres without reducing commodity-program payments.
— Luján #3 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Provides $5 billion in mandatory ad hoc assistance to specialty-crop producers.
— Luján #4 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Requires USDA to use the specialty-crop emergency-payment framework for future ad hoc specialty-crop assistance.
— Luján #5 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Combines a permanent specialty-crop emergency-payment framework with $5 billion in ad hoc assistance.
— Schiff #1 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Ensures new producers are eligible for the specialty-crop emergency-assistance framework.
— Schiff #2 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Adds transparency requirements and guardrails to USDA block grants.
— Smith #15 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Requires a mandatory base-acre update and reinvests the savings in farm safety-net programs.
— Thune #2 — Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.): Lets USDA enroll all voluntary base-acre updates selected under the 2026 rulemaking, avoiding acreage proration.
— Tuberville #1 — Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.): Makes timber losses eligible for disaster assistance through block grants.
— Warnock #3 — Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.): Adds native and improved pecans as eligible commodities under marketing-assistance loans.
— Warnock #4 — Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.): Orders a study of pecans in the marketing-assistance loan program and adds pecans to the recourse loan program.
— Warnock #9 — Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.): Adds timber to the losses eligible for disaster block grants.
— Welch #3 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Directs USDA to improve organic-dairy data collection.
— Welch #6 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Provides free Dairy Margin Coverage for Tier I production up to 6 million pounds and eliminates the annual DMC administrative fee.
— Welch #11 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Removes automatic inflation indexing of farm-program payment limits, leaving increases to Congress.
— Welch #12 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Defines a significant contribution of active personal management and generally limits qualification through management to one person per operation.
— Welch #13 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Sets active-engagement standards, creates a $250,000 operation-level limit, restores a $75,000 MAL/LDP limit and removes the separate peanut limit.
— Welch #14 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Restores the ARC/PLC payment limit to $125,000.
— Welch #15 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Eliminates qualified pass-through entity provisions that can allow payments beyond operation-level limits.
— Welch #16 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Ends automatic full payment eligibility for a spouse who does not independently qualify as actively engaged in farming.
— Welch #17 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Requires management-hour records and FSA audits when ARC/PLC error rates exceed 6%.
— Welch #18 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Combines active-engagement rules, a $310,000 operation-level limit, management recordkeeping and audits, and removal of the separate peanut limit.
— Welch #19 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Applies the same active-engagement rules to family and nonfamily operations and generally caps qualifying managers at three.
— Welch #20 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Creates a $310,000 payment limit per farming operation and adds labor requirements for managers receiving payments from multiple operations.
— Welch #21 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Requires management-hour records for larger or multi-manager operations and FSA audits at least once every three years.
— Welch #22 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Eliminates the separate provision allowing peanut producers to receive up to two payment limits.
CONSERVATION (22)
— Bennet #2 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Increases funding for USDA’s Emergency Watershed Protection Program.
— Bennet #6 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Strikes proposed funding reductions affecting EQIP and the Conservation Stewardship Program.
— Bennet #8 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Establishes voluntary groundwater-conservation easements in significantly depleted aquifers while allowing continued agricultural production.
— Bennet #9 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Revises the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act.
— Bennet #12 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Changes CREP payment timing and increases compensation for drought- and water-conservation projects.
— Bennet #13 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Makes livestock practices that reduce enteric methane eligible under EQIP and CSP.
— Bennet #15 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Creates a small-farm EQIP subprogram and targets a share of EQIP funding to small farms.
— Booker #3 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Strikes language restricting USDA implementation of its Regenerative Agriculture Pilot.
— Durbin #7 — Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.): Creates a Driftless Area conservation initiative to reduce erosion and restore cold-water stream corridors.
— Fischer #1 — Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.): Allows USDA to bar conservation payments from purchasing products that directly benefit foreign countries of concern.
— Hoeven #3 — Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.): Raises the maximum Section 2805 grant, permits terms of up to five years and creates an expedited renewal process while preserving state and Tribal flexibility.
— Justice #2 — Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.): Adds the Emergency Watershed Protection Program as an eligible practice under RCPP.
— Klobuchar #1 — Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.): Strikes cuts to EQIP and CSP and makes other improvements to USDA conservation programs.
— McConnell #1 — Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.): Creates an NRCS initiative for white-oak management, conservation and regeneration, including technical assistance for private landowners.
— Schiff #5 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Eliminates the lower EQIP payment limit applied to organic farmers.
— Schiff #9 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Expands conservation-program eligibility to certain wetlands facing habitat concerns or risks.
— Schiff #10 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Creates a seasonal wildlife-habitat contract option within RCPP.
— Schiff #22 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Removes the cap on Alternative Funding Arrangements in RCPP.
— Schiff #24 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Requires USDA to explain how it will maintain conservation-program delivery despite workforce changes.
— Slotkin #9 — Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.): Allows additional urban producers to participate in the Conservation Stewardship Program.
— Welch #23 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Clarifies that state-required agricultural buffer zones remain eligible for Conservation Reserve Program enrollment.
— Welch #24 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Adds agroforestry practices to Conservation Innovation Grant eligibility and payment authorities.
TRADE AND INTERNATIONAL FOOD AID (6)
— Moran #1 — Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.): Transfers the Food for Peace Program from the State Department to USDA.
— Schiff #18 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Removes “Monterey,” a protected wine appellation, from the bill’s examples of common names.
— Slotkin #11 — Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.): Raises annual TASC funding to $18 million and Emerging Markets Program funding to $16 million.
— Welch #8 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Moves Food for Peace to USDA for a five-year trial, removes the proposed 50% commodity-and-shipping requirement and retains emergency flexibility.
— Welch #9 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Restores Food for Peace “notwithstanding” authority to preserve flexibility in emergencies.
— Welch #10 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Strikes the proposed requirement that 50% of Food for Peace funds be used for commodities and shipping.
NUTRITION (27)
— Bennet #14 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Expands farmers-market and farmers-market nutrition-program investments to improve healthy-food access.
— Booker #4 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Allows the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to consider production practices when they affect nutrition or food safety, including whether foods are ultra-processed.
— Booker #6 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Provides $1 billion annually in mandatory funding for local food-purchasing programs.
— Booker #7 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Raises mandatory GusNIP funding to $200 million annually.
— Booker #8 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Removes a GusNIP priority that could disadvantage farmers markets unable to offer every form of fruits and vegetables year-round.
— Booker #9 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Repeals the SNAP drug-felony ban in every state.
— Booker #16 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Bars USDA from implementing Executive Order 14251 restrictions on federal employee collective bargaining.
— Booker #24 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Strikes the section allowing private administration of SNAP.
— Fetterman #1 — Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.): Strengthens cybersecurity protections for SNAP electronic benefit transfer cards.
— Justice #1 — Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.): Makes hot rotisserie chicken SNAP-eligible and treats it as an accessory food for retailer-eligibility purposes.
— Justice #4 — Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.): Delays updated SNAP stocking standards until six months after USDA finalizes guidance.
— Luján #1 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Delays the SNAP state benefit and administrative cost shift for two years without an offset.
— Luján #2 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Repeals all SNAP reductions enacted in H.R. 1.
— Luján #8 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Provides $200 million annually from Section 32 funds for the Strengthening Local Food Security Program.
— Luján #9 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Provides $200 million annually from Section 32 funds for the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program.
— Luján #10 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Requires the full annual transfer of designated Section 32 receipts to child-nutrition programs and bars their rescission, withholding or diversion.
— Luján #11 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Transitions Puerto Rico from the capped Nutrition Assistance Program block grant to SNAP.
— Luján #12 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Allows simultaneous participation in SNAP and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations.
— Luján #14 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Restores and protects annual federal reporting on hunger and food insecurity.
— Luján #19 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Delays SNAP administrative and benefit cost sharing in any year when a Commodity Credit Corporation-funded program has an error rate above 6%.
— Schiff #13 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Restores SNAP work-requirement exemptions for veterans.
— Schiff #14 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Restores exemptions for veterans, homeless people and former foster youth under age 24.
— Smith #4 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Expands and makes permanent self-determination demonstrations in the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations.
— Smith #6 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Creates a self-determination procurement demonstration in the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.
— Warnock #7 — Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.): Raises Emergency Food Assistance Program funding, doubles storage and distribution support and adds flexibility for geographically isolated states.
— Welch #2 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Allows SNAP applicants to provide a signature by telephone or video conference.
— Welch #5 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Raises mandatory Farm to School funding from $5 million to $15 million annually and increases the maximum grant to $500,000.
FARM CREDIT AND LAND ACCESS (7)
— Booker #12 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Lowers interest rates on USDA operating microloans used by small farms.
— Justice #3 — Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.): Directs the Farm Credit Administration to study gaps in rural housing credit markets.
— Smith #2 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Creates an FSA New Producer Economic Security Program offering grants and financial support to beginning farmers, ranchers and forest owners.
— Welch #33 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Limits overcollateralization, ends the lifetime ban on borrowers who received debt forgiveness and expands refinancing options.
— Welch #34 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Removes term limits on direct farm ownership and operating loans and broadens experience requirements for beginning producers.
— Welch #35 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Creates a beginning-farmer development-loan pilot with flexible multiyear repayment, capped interest and reduced collateral requirements.
— Welch #42 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Adds the FARM Home Loans Act language; the attachment provides no further description.
RURAL DEVELOPMENT (6)
— Bennet #16 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Modernizes Rural Utilities Service Cushion of Credit accounts and clarifies how rural electric borrowers may use deposited funds and accrued interest.
— Durbin #9 — Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.): Provides $200 million annually in grants to rural hospitals at greatest risk of closure.
— Hyde-Smith #5 — Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.): Prioritizes Community Facilities funding for projects that expand public access to federal land, leverage outside partners and serve high-poverty rural counties.
— Smith #5 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Expands and makes permanent USDA’s pilot partnership with Native community-development financial institutions.
— Welch #37 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Reauthorizes and expands the Rural Energy Savings Program to help rural utilities lower customer energy costs.
— Welch #38 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Provides flexible multiyear rural-community grants, technical assistance for federal applications and an expanded Rural Partners Network.
RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND EXTENSION (14)
— Booker #13 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Provides $10 million annually in mandatory funding for the Federally Recognized Tribal Extension Program.
— Schiff #6 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Increases authorization for USDA research supporting transitions from nonorganic to organic production.
— Schiff #7 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Creates an initiative to assess and expand USDA’s organic-research portfolio.
— Schiff #8 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Reauthorizes OREI and adds $5 million in stepped-up annual funding.
— Schiff #21 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Adds synthetic biology to AFRI’s priority research areas.
— Slotkin #5 — Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.): Provides $200 million to the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research.
— Slotkin #8 — Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.): Makes HPAI in dairy cattle a high-priority AFRI research area.
— Slotkin #10 — Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.): Provides $50 million annually to the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research.
— Smith #12 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Expands USDA soil-carbon research; the sheet says the language is identical to S. 2582.
— Smith #14 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Allocates $50 million annually from Community Facilities direct loans to experienced nonprofit rural-loan intermediaries.
— Warnock #1 — Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.): Permanently authorizes and broadens scholarships for students at 1890 institutions and renames the program.
— Warnock #5 — Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.): Directs $1 million of Agricultural and Food Policy Research Center funding to establish a Southeast center.
— Warnock #6 — Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.): Raises research-center funding to $16 million and directs $1 million to a Southeast center.
— Warnock #10 — Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.): Raises funding for Centers of Excellence at 1890 institutions to $50 million.
FORESTRY AND WILDFIRE (18)
— Bennet #1 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Provides increased funding for hazardous-fuels reduction and watershed-health projects.
— Bennet #3 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Combines a forestry satellite pilot, staffing protections, emergency forest and watershed authorities, and hazardous-fuels reporting.
— Bennet #4 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Combines a forestry satellite pilot, RIF protections for cooperatively funded staff, and emergency forest and watershed authorities.
— Bennet #5 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Protects federal wildland-fire staff from RIFs and strengthens hazardous-fuels reporting.
— Booker #25 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Strikes provisions viewed as weakening forest and endangered-species safeguards.
— Durbin #2 — Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.): Reserves $150,000 annually from Urban and Community Forestry funds for microforest grants covering sites smaller than one acre.
— Durbin #4 — Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.): Creates TREES Act competitive grants for community tree planting that reduces residential energy use.
— Durbin #6 — Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.): Reauthorizes the Urban and Community Forestry Program with higher authorization, a designated USDA office and mandatory funding.
— Durbin #8 — Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.): Updates the Shawnee National Forest Conservation Act to reflect USDA technical assistance.
— Hoeven #1 — Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.): Limits prairie-dog habitat within grazing allotments on specified grasslands and establishes a one-mile buffer along neighboring state and private land.
— Luján #6 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Boosts native seedling production, prioritizes local wildfire contractors, creates regional research centers and permits cost-share waivers after Forest Service-caused fires.
— Luján #7 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Allows USDA to cover recovery cost shares fully and expedite infrastructure repairs in communities damaged by wildfires beyond their control.
— Schiff #11 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Establishes respiratory-protection standards for federal wildland firefighters.
— Schiff #12 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Directs the Forest Service to evaluate shrubland wildfire-mitigation methods and opportunities for greater nonfederal collaboration.
— Warnock #2 — Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.): Orders a feasibility study on designating the Benton MacKaye Trail as a national scenic trail.
— Welch #25 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Expands access to emergency funds for containing or eradicating invasive insects and pathogens threatening forests and woodlands.
— Welch #26 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Requires a federal study and national strategy addressing fragmented research and response to invasive insects and pathogens.
— Welch #27 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Establishes national and regional agroforestry centers to advance agroforestry adoption.
ENERGY (5)
— Fischer #2 — Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.): Directs USDA to request financial and domestic-impact reports during the Section 9003 review process.
— Smith #9 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Requires oversight of canceled Rural Energy for America Program grants.
— Smith #10 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Requires reinstatement of all obligated REAP grants.
— Smith #11 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Raises REAP cost shares and certain grant limits using provisions from the REAP Modernization bill.
— Welch #36 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Reforms and reauthorizes REAP at higher funding levels.
HORTICULTURE, ORGANICS AND PESTICIDES (13)
— Booker #1 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Allows states to continue requiring long-term health-risk warnings on pesticide products.
— Booker #2 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Strikes four sections that would deregulate pesticide-safety oversight.
— Fetterman #2 — Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.): Modernizes Organic Foods Production Act enforcement, foreign equivalency determinations, certification of foreign operations and appeals.
— Fetterman #3 — Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.): Expands the entities eligible for cooperative agreements with USDA’s Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production.
— Luján #18 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Raises annual Local Agriculture Market Program funding to $100 million.
— Schiff #3 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Codifies two USDA regional food-system programs.
— Schiff #19 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Raises the National Clean Plant Network funding floor from $5 million to $10 million.
— Slotkin #6 — Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.): Provides $15 million in mandatory funding and a $50 million authorization for USDA’s urban-agriculture office.
— Welch #28 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Expands the Organic Certification Cost Share Program into a broader Opportunities in Organic Program.
— Welch #29 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Raises the OCCSP reimbursement cap from $750 to $1,500 for five years.
— Welch #30 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Raises the OCCSP reimbursement cap to $1,500 for five years and makes the program permanent.
— Welch #31 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Permanently authorizes the Organic Market Development Grant program without mandatory funding for five years.
— Welch #32 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Permanently authorizes the program with mandatory funding for five years.
CROP INSURANCE (8)
— Booker #20 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Adds accountability requirements for crop-insurance companies serving farmers and taxpayers.
— Booker #21 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Expands crop-insurance access for small and diversified farms.
— Booker #22 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Strengthens the actuarial soundness of the federal crop-insurance program.
— Durbin #1 — Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.): Directs FCIC to reduce premiums for crops with five-year average loss ratios below 0.8.
— Durbin #3 — Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.): Adds $6 million for data mining using remote sensing, machine learning and computational modeling to detect fraud, waste and abuse.
— Slotkin #1 — Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.): Improves risk-management options for specialty-crop producers.
— Slotkin #7 — Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.): Requires a mandatory base-acre update and reinvests the savings in existing farm safety-net programs.
— Welch #4 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Directs USDA to develop a multi-peril, index-based policy for specialty-crop and diversified farms facing extreme weather.
MISCELLANEOUS, USDA OPERATIONS AND OTHER POLICY (42)
— Booker #5 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Strengthens accountability and transparency in federal commodity checkoff programs.
— Booker #10 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Creates a USDA Office of Small Farms to streamline small-farmer access to programs.
— Booker #11 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Prohibits USDA from canceling signed contracts unless the farmer or other party fails to comply with the agreement.
— Booker #14 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Blocks FSIS from finalizing proposed rules increasing poultry and swine slaughter-line speeds.
— Booker #15 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Bars companies and subcontractors convicted of child-labor violations from USDA contracts for three years.
— Booker #17 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Tightens animal-fighting enforcement, including online gambling restrictions and stronger penalties.
— Booker #19 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Restricts future farmland purchases by investment corporations.
— Ernst #1 — Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa): Moves the Agricultural Act of 2026 effective date by one day.
— Fetterman #4 — Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.): Caps annual RFS volumes at the amount of renewable fuel consumed in the prior calendar year.
— Fetterman #5 — Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.): Requires EPA to make Renewable Fuel Standard credits available for sale.
— Fetterman #6 — Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.): Strikes the bill’s year-round E15 and RFS reform provisions.
— Grassley #1 — Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa): Reassigns the Crop Inputs Economist’s duties among USDA offices.
— Grassley #2 — Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa): Strengthens CFTC whistleblower protections and improves the whistleblower program.
— Grassley #3 — Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa): Creates a USDA Office of the Special Investigator for Competition Matters.
— Grassley #4 — Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa): Codifies three finalized Packers and Stockyards Act rules.
— Hyde-Smith #1 — Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.): Requires country-of-origin and farm-raised/wild-caught fish labels to appear together on the front of packages in prominent type.
— Hyde-Smith #2 — Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.): Expands the renewable-biomass definition to include specified forest material, fuel-reduction byproducts and defensible-space vegetation.
— Hyde-Smith #3 — Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.): Compensates poultry growers and layers prevented from repopulating during an APHIS control-area declaration.
— Hyde-Smith #4 — Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.): Creates cost-share grants to retrofit older tractors with rollover-protection structures.
— Hyde-Smith #6 — Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.): Revises the renewable-biomass definition to exclude only stumps and roots, preserving eligibility for sawmill byproducts.
— Luján #13 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Authorizes NRCS cooperative agreements supporting farmer-led conservation education networks.
— Luján #15 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Strengthens the veterinary, animal-disease and food-safety workforce needed to address threats such as HPAI and New World screwworm.
— Luján #16 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Creates a permanent grant program providing stabilization payments to farm, meat-processing and grocery workers during disasters.
— Luján #17 — Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.): Bans horse slaughter for human consumption and exports to Canadian and Mexican slaughter facilities.
— Schiff #4 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Codifies the USDA-APHIS Nonlethal Initiative for wildlife-conflict reduction.
— Schiff #15 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Creates retirement policies for laboratory animals at federal research facilities.
— Schiff #16 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Bans U.S. greyhound racing and domestic wagering on foreign greyhound races.
— Schiff #17 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Bars USDA reorganization unless the department demonstrates that services would not be harmed.
— Schiff #23 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Establishes a USDA water-saving commodities program.
— Slotkin #2 — Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.): Requires an assessment of food-and-agriculture critical-infrastructure vulnerabilities and stronger cyber protections.
— Slotkin #3 — Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.): Requires an annual assessment of U.S. dependence on agricultural products and inputs from China.
— Slotkin #4 — Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.): Strengthens USDA’s ability to counter national-security threats to the U.S. food supply.
— Smith #1 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Adds absentee investors to the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act registry.
— Smith #3 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Establishes Tribal self-governance authority for inspection of Tribal meat-processing facilities.
— Smith #7 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Protects Tribal gaming rights from prediction-market contracts resembling sports betting or casino gaming.
— Smith #13 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Requires disclosure of USDA awards terminated, rescinded or modified on or after Jan. 20, 2025.
— Smith #16 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Authorizes year-round E15 sales.
— Thune #1 — Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.): Tasks USDA and USTR with reinstating WTO-compliant mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef.
— Welch #1 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Codifies personal-use and custom-slaughter exemptions.
— Welch #7 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Bars USDA employee relocations until the department publishes a cost-benefit analysis and responds to public comments.
— Welch #39 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Requires USDA to brief Congress on its communications with GAO and responses to GAO requests.
— Welch #40 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Strikes the bill’s E15 provisions entirely.
CROSS-TITLE AND OTHER PROPOSALS (7)
— Bennet #11 — Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.): Creates a water package covering prevented planting, groundwater easements, watershed programs and water-saving projects.
— Booker #23 — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.): Creates national and regional agroforestry centers and makes agroforestry and perennial systems eligible for conservation innovation grants.
— Schiff #20 — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.): Affirms the specialty-crop definition across Title X, TASC and crop-insurance authorities.
— Smith #8 — Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.): Includes 15 no-cost provisions addressing Native and Tribal communities across multiple titles.
— Warnock #8 — Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.): Raises funding for TEFAP and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program.
— Warnock #11 — Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.): Expands eligibility and addresses administrative barriers in the Heirs Property Relending Program.
— Welch #41 — Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.): Sets ReConnect broadband service standards at symmetrical 100/100 Mbps.
AG POLICY & MARKETS DAILY | FARM BILL 2.0 — THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2026
