As the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, I spend a lot of my time talking to the farmers and ranchers who feed and fuel the world. But these conversations started long before I took this position last January. The district I represent is covered in corn and soybeans this time of year — and in about a month, Minnesota’s farmers will be readying the combines for harvest.
We could all learn a lot about politics from the experiences of our family farmers. Farming is a difficult job in any climate. It requires months of planning with limited information and an ability to adapt to changing weather patterns, market conditions and consumer demand. But even for farmers, who are a resilient bunch, this climate is taking a toll — and I’m not just talking about the Canadian wildfires blowing smoke our way.
While Republicans have largely been on vacation, family farmers have been working overtime to make up for the markets they lost due to Trump’s tariffs and the fertilizer and diesel price increases resulting from Trump’s illegal war with Iran.
This week, congressional Republicans are trying to jam through their third budget proposal of this Congress. Reconciliation 3.0 includes $12 billion in farm aid, $73 billion in defense spending and $10 billion to implement President Donald Trump’s election-rigging voting restrictions. Put another way: In the last week of legislative business before Congress takes a five-week recess, Republicans are scrambling to pass Trump’s remaining policy priorities.
This has been one of the least productive Congresses in our nation’s history. Between unexpected recesses and abruptly canceled voting days, Republicans have prioritized passing two disastrous budget reconciliation bills. First there was Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cut $1 trillion from Medicaid and $187 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP — all to initiate the largest transfer of wealth from the middle class to the top 0.1% in American history. Then there was Reconciliation 2.0, which handed $70 billion in additional funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement after ICE agents shot and killed two American citizens in my home state.
While Republicans have largely been on vacation, family farmers have been working overtime to make up for the markets they lost due to Trump’s tariffs, the revenue that disappeared when SNAP recipients could no longer afford their products, and the fertilizer and diesel price increases resulting from Trump’s illegal war with Iran. Through all of this, farmers have been understaffed because immigrant workers are afraid to come to work, where they could be picked up by masked ICE agents. Add in the healthcare costs that skyrocketed with the expiration of the Affordable Care Act tax credits, and you’ve got a perfect storm.
You might be thinking: Well, farmers know how to weather storms, and they stand to get billions in aid through Republicans’ latest budget package, right? But the truth is that $12 billion doesn’t scratch the surface when it comes to the financial damage this administration has inflicted on America’s family farmers. Last week, the American Farm Bureau Federation projected that row crop producers are expected to lose $32 billion in 2027 in addition to the $31 billion they are slated to lose this year. You do the math.
Not surprisingly, the producers I talk to back home are losing patience. They are tired of the whiplash — of being undercut and then offered relief branded as a donation from the federal government. Farmers don’t want handouts. They want markets. They want healthcare. They want long-term solutions — and so do most Americans.
So, while Republicans spend this August trying to convince family farmers and working families that they are better off than they were before Republicans took power, I urge my Democratic colleagues to focus on communicating what we will do when we take power back.
Farmers don’t want handouts. They want markets. They want long-term solutions — and so do most Americans.
Fighting Trump and his billionaire allies is only half the battle. Creating opportunities for hardworking Americans is the other.
Folks need to hear that we are working to reverse Republicans’ historic cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. That we are working to rescind ICE funding and committing not to send another cent to ICE until its agents start adhering to the same standards as law enforcement. That we are working toward creating a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and legal status for our immigrant workforce. That we are taking on Big Insurance, Big Tech and massive corporations raking in record profits by preying on working folks.
Americans need to hear that we are working to lower costs at the gas pump and investing in domestic energy by passing commonsense solutions like year-round E15 — a policy that would allow the permanent sale of a cheaper, more sustainable, homegrown alternative to traditional gasoline. Most of all, they want to know that we’ll walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
Much like the family farmers I represent in Minnesota, Democrats have to use what we know now to plan for the future. Sowing the seeds for a Democratic majority takes work. That work has to start now.
The post The reconciliation bailout for farmers won’t fix what Trump policies broke appeared first on MS NOW.
