A House Agriculture subcommittee will revisit conservation programs at a hearing this week, as lawmakers seek to steer money to them through a big tax and spending bill.
The programs, which help farmers build healthier soil, stem erosion and prevent pollution of waterways, have become a political football in the fight about retreating from the Inflation Reduction Act.
But they’re popular on both sides of the aisle and attract far more applications than the Agriculture Department can satisfy, a theme likely to come up as the Subcommittee on Conservation, Research and Biotechnology weighs the programs’ benefits.
Committee Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) provided as much as $14 billion in funding for conservation in the committee’s portion of the megabill that Republicans are trying to pass through the budget reconciliation process. The measure would take funds from the Inflation Reduction Act’s conservation provisions, making them part of the farm bill’s long term budget baseline.
