Farm Bill gets extension as Congress passes spending package and averts shutdown

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The Farm Bill was extended once again for another year as Congress approved a final-hour spending package to avert a government shutdown Friday.

Along with the extension, the bipartisan legislation also includes financial aid for farmers and money for recent natural disasters. However, the extension means they will still be relying on outdated provisions from the 2018 Farm Bill.

The Farm, Food, and National Security Act, also known as the Farm Bill, is considered a “must-pass” package of federal legislation that is typically reauthorized every five years. The last Farm Bill was passed in 2018 and was supposed to be renewed in 2023, until lawmakers extended the deadline to Sept. 30.

The Farm Bill extension was part of a package that will keep the federal government funded after Friday night, when funds expire. Congress needs to pass legislation each fiscal year designating how much the federal government will spend on its programs. When Congress does not meet its deadline, lawmakers pass “continuing resolutions” which buy time by keeping funding at previous levels.

The package also included a disaster relief package that will allocate money for sectors critical to Texas’ economy to respond to recent natural disasters. Over $3 billion was estimated to go to the state’s farmers in addition to the Farm Bill, $122 million to repair Johnson Space Center and $950 million to repair the state’s roads and transportation infrastructure, according to a memo by House Appropriations Committee Democrats.

The Farm Bill sets policies for many agricultural programs, such as federal crop insurance and loans for farmers. In Texas, the bill supports more than 230,000 farms and ranches that can be found in nearly every corner of the state — from sprawling pastures in the northern Panhandle to loam-covered rice fields in East Texas. According to a 2024 Feeding the Economy report, an economic impact study organized by food and agriculture groups, the state’s food and agriculture sectors contribute about $860.8 billion in economic activity and employ more than 4.5 million people.

The bill also helps provide more than 3.4 million low-income Texas families with benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), according to Every Texan, a nonprofit advocacy organization that analyzes public policy and its impact on Texas residents.

SNAP funding has been a source of contention for this Farm Bill. In a May version advanced by the U.S. House agriculture committee, led by Rep. Glenn Thompson, a Pennsylvania Republican, SNAP would get about a $30 billion cut. That was a nonstarter for many Democrats.

The U.S. House was set to pass a continuing resolution earlier this week to keep the government open until March in a bipartisan deal negotiated by Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana. But rank-and-file Republicans revolted over the agreement, saying it was negotiated behind closed doors without their input and released without sufficient time to review.

The tenor amplified after Elon Musk, the billionaire Texas transplant who has the ear of President-elect Donald Trump, trashed the package on social media for including so many priorities unrelated to keeping the government open. Within 24 hours, the continuing resolution was effectively dead.

Trump threw in a curveball on Wednesday when he demanded that a continuing resolution also include an increase or elimination of the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling does not impact future spending levels and caps borrowing to cover past expenses. When the debt ceiling is reached and the country can no longer borrow to cover its bills and interest payments, it risks defaulting on its debts. This has never happened before, but economists warn it would have a devastating impact on the economy. Republicans have used the threat of a default to corner Democrats into agreeing to restrictions on future spending.

Republican leaders released a new, drastically slimmed down continuing resolution Thursday afternoon that would keep the government funded until March, include the disaster relief package, extend the Farm Bill, raise the debt ceiling and exclude other priorities that Musk and Republicans criticized as being irrelevant to keeping the government funded.

But Democrats were irate, asserting they were excluded from the negotiations and that Republicans had gone back on their word on priorities that would help everyday Americans. Democrats were especially angry at Musk, who has no experience in public office, saying he had no business dictating how Congress should do its job.

“Which branch of Government does Elon belong to? Asking for a friend….” U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, posted on social media.

Several fiscally minded conservatives, including U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, were equally furious that his own party would raise the debt ceiling without securing future limits on spending. Trump threatened to primary Roy for opposing a raise to the debt ceiling without future spending limits.

Thursday’s package failed with 38 Republicans joining all but three Democrats in voting no. In addition to Roy, U.S. Reps. Michael Cloud of Victory, Wesley Hunt of Houston, Morgan Luttrell of Willis, Nathaniel Moran of Tyler, Keith Self of McKinney and Beth Van Duyne of Irving all voted no.

The final package that passed the House on Friday excluded any mention of the debt ceiling. Democrats signed on and helped House Republican leaders reach a supermajority required for passage.

Disclosure: Every Texan has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.