Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow introduced a five-year farm policy bill Monday that would preserve conservation programs’ focus on climate change, as Congress runs out of time to address the issue this year.
Lawmakers offered little evidence, however, that Stabenow’s maneuver so close to the end of the current session of Congress would overcome partisan divisions and advance an update to the 2018 farm bill.
In a speech on the Senate floor, Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, said the “Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act” would put “more farm in the farm bill” to help the widest swath of agriculture, while keeping up efforts to make the industry part of the fight against the climate crisis.
Stabenow is retiring at the end of this session of Congress, leaving the top Democratic slot most likely to Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. The likely incoming chairman is Arkansas Republican John Boozman. He panned the proposal.
