House Agriculture Chair Glenn Thompson said he’ll move quickly next year to shift billions of dollars in unspent conservation money from the Biden administration’s climate law into a new five-year farm bill — and let farmers use it for practices that don’t reduce climate change.
“It’s still on the table for next year,” the Pennsylvania Republican said after a bipartisan proposal to water down the Inflation Reduction Act money’s climate provisions while moving about $14 billion in unspent funds into a farm bill extension fizzled Tuesday. “I argued that it should be done now.”
Congress’ next move will determine whether funding for a wide array of environmental practices on farms remains at the elevated levels lawmakers prescribed in the Inflation Reduction Act or falls hard and fast. The government already can’t cover all the farmers who apply and are eligible.
If the Inflation Reduction Act funds are lost, “at the end of the day, you’re going to have just as many people turned away, if not more,” said Michael Lavender, policy director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
