Padilla Statement on House-Passed Farm Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) released the following statement on the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026.

"I am disappointed that the House-passed Farm Bill does not reverse the devastating cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) made by Donald Trump's so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act - especially as grocery costs soar due to Trump's war in Iran and families struggle to make ends meet. I am also adamantly opposed to any provision that would preempt California's Proposition 12, which was overwhelmingly approved by California's voters. We have the largest agricultural economy in the entire country, and a strong, bipartisan farm bill is critical to our state. The Senate must make important changes to the House-passed version, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to meet the needs of our nation's families, farmers, growers, and ranchers."

Approximately 40 million Americans - including 5.5 million Californians - depend on SNAP benefits to help afford their groceries, which has only grown more essential amid skyrocketing food prices under President Trump. Last year, Padilla joined a spotlight forum titled "Hunger by Design ­- The GOP's Assault on SNAP" to question witnesses and expose Trump and Republicans' cruel budget proposal that cut nearly $200 billion in SNAP benefits while giving tax cuts to billionaires.

Padilla voted against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Republicans' billionaire-first budget reconciliation bill that gutted critical programs, including SNAP, spoke on the Senate floor against the Republican budget resolution, and voted against advancing it in the Senate in both February and April 2025. He also condemned House Republicans' passage of the reconciliation bill that gutted critical programs that California families rely on to put food on the table.

As the fifth largest supplier of food in the world, California has a $61 billion agriculture industry with over 400 commodities, growing more than a third of the nation's vegetables and three-quarters of fruit and nut crops in the United States. California has implemented necessary public health, food safety, and human standards for the in-state production and sale of certain products, following demands from consumers, food companies, and farmers. These standards include consumer information safeguards, food quality and safety regulations, animal welfare standards, and more.

Last year, Senator Padilla joined Senators Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) in leading 28 of their Senate Colleagues in an effort to protect California's Proposition 12. Prior to that, he joined the late Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in leading a bipartisan group of senators calling on the Senate Agriculture Committee to not include the controversial Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression Act (EATS) Act in any future farm bill.

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