Senator Marshall: Democrats Are Blocking the Farm Bill

Senator Marshall Joins RFD-TV's Market Day Report

Washington - U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), joined RFD-TV's Market Day Report with Suzanne Alexander to discuss the Democrats' blocking of the Farm Bill out of committee, failing to ensure stability for farms and rural communities through year-round E15, internet expansion, farmer mental health, and more across the country because they refused to hold states accountable for SNAP error rates.

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On the Democrats blocking the Farm Bill out of committee:

"Yeah, Suzanne. Well, this is horribly disappointing - the Democrats just voted down the Farm Bill on the Senate Ag Committee. You know, I think the shocking part is they walked away from year-round E15, they walked away from five years of certainty when it comes to crop protection programs. So, we raised the reference prices 10% to 20% in the Working Families Tax Cuts bill, and this would have given folks five years of certainty. It raised the loan limits from USDA, it had more high-speed internet for rural America, and infrastructure, and farmer mental health - all those things. And they walked away from it because of an error rate issue when it comes to SNAP programs. And you know, happy to dive into that, but that's really what their only hangup is. This bill is full of bipartisan priorities, but they're hung up on the fact that we want states to be accountable - that if they have a high error rate on administering SNAP, then the states would have to pay more, or some fair share, of those SNAP benefits. So it's just horrible news for the American farmer and rancher."

"You got it. So the Working Families Tax Cuts gave all the states a year and a half to get their error rates fixed. Bargaining with the Democrats, we offered them another year - so really two and a half years to get their error rates down. But they're wanting another year on top of that. And nowhere in their solutions do they say, 'Why can't we work on states to get their error rates down?' I'm just afraid if it wasn't this, it would be something else. But what I'm calling on is all your listeners to reach out to your Democrat senators and ask them why they walked away from year-round E15. Why did they walk away from five years of certainty for crop protection? In this moment of need - with input costs where they are right now - why did their Democrat senator walk away from this bill?"

On accountability for SNAP fraud and how it is holding up year-round E15:

"You know, absolutely. Matter of fact, you have leaders: you know Senator Klobuchar, Senator Smith, Senator Durbin - those are all people from states that grow a little bit of corn. So they've led the fight for this E15. Look, you know one of my year-long goals here was to get this. You asked me my priorities for the Farm Bill: it's E15, E15, and E15. And we got it. So they walked away from that - that means about 500 million bushels of corn that would have been consumed if we would go to year-round E15. But they walked away from it on this SNAP program. And just to back up, you know, you think about a Farm Bill - we're spending $100 billion a year on food programs and about $30 billion on farm programs. Look, I don't want any child to go home hungry. We get free breakfast at school, free lunches, free dinners, we send them home with food, WIC programs, food banks, senior citizen meals - all these programs on top of the SNAP program. But the SNAP program is the one that has the higher error rates. I hate to use the word fraud - I think maybe it's just incompetence in many cases that the states can't run the program. But again, they're walking away from this entire Farm Bill over asking for another year on top of the two and a half years we've already given them to get their error rates down."

"Well, I do, I do think so. I think when all the senators go home for this break in August, they've got to look the farmers in rural America in the eyes and let the Democrats explain to the farmers back home why they voted against this Farm Bill. Why did they vote against the increased loan funding that people need to keep things going? Their reference prices are up 10 to 20 percent on reference prices. My goodness, that's going to be the difference between farms folding and farms being able to plant next year's crops going forward. So our hope is when these senators go home that the barnyard will show up and say, 'Hey, what's going on here? Come back in September and get this thing across the finish line.'"

On why SNAP fraud is an issue:

"Yeah, well, Suzanne, you know for sure we've been trying to figure out that for the last year. And we thought by giving them a year extension, that would do the trick, and that's why I'm concerned - well, if we solve this problem, are they going to have some other imaginary problem? And this is the politics right now. My friends across the aisle have shut the government down three times; they won't fund the military now, they're at least so far unwilling to extend the government funding beyond September 30^th. So I'm afraid of all the places, the Ag Committee was the last place for bipartisanship. And I guarantee you the relationships across the aisle are still there - Amy Klobuchar, the ranking member of that committee for the Democrats -running for governor, by the way, in Minnesota. Maybe the farmers of Minnesota are going to reach out there and say, 'Hey, you need to take care of this Farm Bill.' So we've offered a huge compromise by giving an extra year extension - I don't think it's unreasonable for states to have error rates under 6%. And if they don't, then they're going to have to pay a little bit more proportion of the food stamps for their programs for their states."

On passing the Farm Bill before the end of the year to provide relief for farmers:

"Well, look, this Farm Bill doesn't solve everything, but it's certainly a step back in the right direction. You think about the year-round E15: that's about the equivalent of maybe a fourth or a fifth of all the corn that we export. You know, it'd be like having another trade partner that's going to increase our exports by, say, 25 percent. So that alone just starts that whole ball rolling as well. There's stuff in here for fertilizers by helping have more domestic fertilizers, so we're not dependent upon foreign nations as well. The loan limits - especially for young starting farmers - there's increased limits for those. We raise the amount of CRP - the amount of conservation money in this goes up, I think, about 30% for the different conservation programs, whether it's EQIP or the other ones as well. So there's so much good in here; I've never been prouder of the underlying bill. So, you know, I'm going to go home and lick my wounds, but we'll get back up tomorrow and keep at it, just like my farmers are going to wake up tomorrow morning and they're going to keep at it as well."

"Well, it's always been crop insurance, right? That's always been first, second, and third to a Farm Bill, and we added $65 billion to the crop insurance in the Working Families Tax Cuts bill. But then beyond that, it's the Title I funding, the ARC and the PLC programs. So we raise the reference prices - and they're going to be there for this fall - but the question is long-term what that's going to take care of. But beyond the Farm Bill, I think really, Suzanne, what people are talking to me back home - and you said this a second ago - it's input costs, it's fertilizers, it's pesticides, it's seeds, those types of things. Diesel - I mean, I can't run away from diesel. And I'll take responsibility from the standpoint that certainly the Strait of Hormuz is impacting this - and this is why no one wants this war to be over sooner than President Trump and myself do. We understand that the Strait being - it's not totally closed, but it's impacting the price of diesel as well as fertilizer. On the other hand, look, we don't want Iran to have nuclear weapons either. So I feel like we're very close to getting that resolved. So we took care of the crop insurance, we took care of the reference prices, now we got to work on those other input costs."

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