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Floor Speech
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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, as a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and a resident of a State whose literal lifeblood is agriculture, the farm bills that Congress takes up every few years are one of my top priorities.
I have had the chance to help craft four, now, farm bills during my time in Congress, and my No. 1 goal is always to ensure that each bill accurately reflects the needs and priorities of the men and women on the ground, the ones who are doing the hard work of feeding our country.
As I travel around my State of South Dakota, I always take special note of my conversations with agriculture producers, and many of the bills that I introduce for inclusion in the farm bill are based on these conversations.
The current farm bill will expire later this year. With deadlines approaching and updates needed to a number of farm programs, Congress needs to focus on advancing the next farm bill.
This is all the more important given the headwinds farmers and ranchers are currently facing. With net farm income projected to decline by 25 percent this year and with input costs projected to hit a record high, it is especially important that we make sure farmers and ranchers have the support they need to carry on with their vital work.
Last month, the House Agriculture Committee marked up its draft of the next farm bill, and the bill passed the committee with the support of not just Republicans but several Democrats as well. Yesterday morning, Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member John Boozman released his farm bill framework to build off the House's work and hopefully move this process forward in the Senate.
Progress in the Senate has been hamstrung by Senate Democrats' insistence on prioritizing things like climate over the needs of farmers and ranchers. I am hoping that the recent efforts by the House, along with Senator Boozman's framework, will move deliberations along and refocus our efforts on farmers and ranchers instead of Democrats' climate obsessions.
In preparation for this next farm bill, I introduced a number of pieces of legislation that I hope to get included in the final bill. These bills are based on the conversations I have had with farmers and ranchers as I travel throughout South Dakota as well as events I have held to hear from ag producers about their priorities for the farm bill.
I am very pleased that the framework Senator Boozman has put out contains measures from a number of the bills I introduced. That includes elements of my Conservation Reserve Program Improvement Act-- legislation I introduced to make the Conservation Reserve Program a more effective option for producers--as well as my CRP Flexibility Act, which would provide additional drought flexibilities for CRP contract holders.
It also includes my Crop Insurance for Future Farmers Act, which I introduced with Senator Klobuchar to help make crop insurance more affordable for young farmers, as well as measures from my Expediting Forest Restoration and Recovery Act and my Rural Internet Improvement Act.
It includes a section modeled off my bipartisan Strengthening Local Processing Act to increase the processing options available to livestock producers and expand small meatpackers' capacity.
Importantly, this framework would make improvements to the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage Programs, which are essential elements of the farm safety net.
I am tremendously grateful to Senator Boozman for his work on this framework and his efforts to move the farm bill process forward.
I hope that my Democratic colleagues will approach pursuing a bipartisan agreement on this legislation with a new seriousness. As I said earlier, their focus on nonfarm priorities has slowed progress on this farm bill. I hope the House's recent work and Senator Boozman's efforts will encourage them to focus on what should be in the substance of any farm bill--namely, the farm.
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