House and Senate budget resolutions top of mind, directing topline cuts to the Agriculture Committees:

Last week, the Senate Committee on the Budget easily pushed their budget resolution out of committee along a party-line vote of 11-10. The Committee approved resolution would direct the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry to cut no less than $1 billion in mandatory spending over the next ten fiscal years (FY 2026 through FY 2035). Following the Senate, the House Budget Committee passed their budget resolution along a party-line vote of 21-16. Compared to the Senate, the House version of the resolution would direct the House Agriculture Committee to cut $230 billion within the Committee’s jurisdiction over the same ten fiscal year period. The budget resolution cannot and does not specify where each Committee of Congress may find changes in the budget to meet the budget resolution’s requirements. In the Ag Committee’s jurisdiction, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) makes up more than 79 percent of the farm bill spending baseline over the next 10 years. Any major spending reductions required of the Agriculture Committees will drive the Committees to look to SNAP for much of the savings. Budget cuts of the magnitude of the House Resolution’s $230 billion to the Agriculture Committees could complicate the ability of the Committees and the Congress to pass a farm bill later this year. 

On Thursday evening, the Senate initiated “Vote-A-Rama” and brought their Fiscal Year 2025 Senate budget resolution (S.Con.Res.7) to the floor for debate. Lasting late into the night and early this morning, the Senate eventually passed their budget resolution by a vote of 52-48. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was notably the only Republican to vote against the budget resolution, along with the Democrats. With the House being out of session this week, they will evaluate their options and potentially attempt to pass their resolution on the floor when they return next week. While the House (-$230 billion) and Senate (-$1 billion) are far apart concerning the reductions in agriculture committee spending in their current budget resolutions, a single target must be agreed upon in conference between the two chambers before Congress can move forward with a budget reconciliation bill to enact the actual spending changes required by a single budget resolution agreed to by both the House and the Senate. Additionally, President Trump endorsed the House Republicans’ proposal earlier this week promoting one larger bill versus the Senate’s approach of wanting two separate bills, further complicating the Senate and House Republican positions on reconciliation.

Layoffs Hit Thousands of USDA Employees Across the Country

Recently, it was reported that the Trump Administration had fired thousands of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) employees across the country as part of the Administration’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce. Layoffs have been spread across multiple agencies, including but not limited to the U.S. Forest Service, the Agriculture Research Service, the Foreign Agriculture Service, etc., and mostly were targeted toward new hires. Additionally, some senior executive staff across USDA were also given notice that they would be demoted or put on administrative leave. In times when the agriculture industry at large is facing economic headwinds and uncertainty, recent firings have resulted in the loss of highly technical experts in animal health, conservation and other essential aspects of the Department.