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Slotkin says U.S. House plans for farm bill, ag labor action

A member of the U.S. House Ag Committee says lawmakers are preparing for bipartisan farm bill legislation to be announced in the coming weeks.

Michigan Democrat Elissa Slotkin tells Brownfield, “We have a good relationship in the House Agriculture Committee despite some of the tensions in the broader House, but we’ve been talking to the Chairman and our hope is that the bill that he puts forward as soon as May is one that reflects bipartisan priorities.”

During a recent farmer forum with Slotkin, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack said Congress should be creative with Commodity Credit Corporation funding to avoid using nutrition money or Inflation Reduction Act conservation dollars to get support the legislation needs to pass.

Slotkin says there’s also an effort to provide short-term relief for farmers faced with high H-2A guest worker costs.

“I think there’s been, at least in the House, so much bipartisanship around this issue that we’re actually now trying to put in a one-year freeze into the next year’s appropriation,” she says.

Vilsack says his agency will soon be announcing $65 million in grants for the Farm Labor Stabilization and Protection Pilot Program to offset the H-2A program and wage costs. 

Brownfield interviewed both following a fireside chat with Michigan farmers Friday.

Photo courtesy of Congresswoman Slotkin’s staff.