Senate $3.5 Trillion Reconciliation Package Provides $135 Billion for Agriculture
Senate Democrats today passed a budget resolution calling for $3.5 trillion in new spending as part of the President's infrastructure agenda. The framework provides only top-line numbers and instructs committees (like the Agriculture Committee) to propose spending plans through the reconciliation process.
The current proposal gives $135 billion to the Agriculture Committee to allocate over the next 10 years.
Land Core is joining a growing number of farming, food, ag business and nonprofit organizations calling on Congress to use these funds to double the investment in USDA conservation programs and double technical assistance funding to help producers build a soil health-centered, climate-smart agriculture.
This memo to Senators (from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's office) instructs the Senate Agriculture Committee to focus on:
Agriculture conservation, drought, and forestry programs to help reduce carbon emissions and prevent wildfires; rural development and rural co-op clean energy investments; agricultural climate research and research infrastructure; Civilian Climate Corps funding; child nutrition; and debt relief. The resolution also allows for additional new budget authority for wildfire suppression activities.
Conservation programs currently receive about $6 billion per year for the current five-year cycle (or $30 billion), which still leaves many of the most needed programs - like EQIP and CSP - oversubscribed, and USDA woefully understaffed to help with technical assistance and training.
Doubling the conservation budget would provide critical access to these programs as well as the needed training and support to help producers transition a more resilient agriculture.
We need Congress to recognize resilient agricultural systems as essential infrastructure - not just in producing food, fuel and fiber, but also managing floods, drought, and other disasters!
This request roughly parallels calls from Senate Ag Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, who wants to see $50 billion in new spending through the reconciliation bill.
Committees have a September 15th deadline to submit their proposals for the reconciliation bill, which will determine the final numbers allocated to USDA conservation programs and other climate-resilient ag measures.
Join us in advocating for historic investments in soil health and resilient ag by contacting your representative, thanking them for supporting agriculture, and asking them to double the investment in resilient agriculture through the reconciliation bill.
The passing of this reconciliation package comes as the Senate yesterday passed the separate, $1.2 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which now moves to the House. This bill includes $550 billion in new spending primarily for roads, bridges, and transit (see fact sheet). As it relates to agriculture, some of the provisions include:
$65 billion for Broadband, including $2 billion for USDA
$8.3 billion for FY 2022-2026 for Bureau of Reclamation western water infrastructure
$5.5 billion for USDA and the Department of Interior to conduct wildfire risk reduction and restore ecological health on Federal lands
$918 million for NRCS Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations, Watershed Rehabilitation, and Emergency Watershed Protection Programs
$696 million for wildfire land management, and $10 million for forest and rangeland research, to USDA's Forest Service
Addressing safe transportation of agricultural commodities and farm supplies
A grant program to benefit pollinators on roadsides and highway rights-of-way through planting/seeding of native grasses and wildflowers
$21 billion for environmental remediation
Democratic leaders have pledged to move the bipartisan infrastructure package and their reconciliation measure in tandem, tying together the success of both bills.
Check back for updates as further details are released.