A senator from Iowa voted against a new U.S. Farm Bill, as it passed with bipartisan support earlier this week 87-13. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) praised Senator Joni Ernst’s work to reform the Conservation Reserve Program, but was disappointed that his payment limitations amendment was not in the final bill, “Not only does my amendment not get adopted, but existing law is made more liberal to include nieces, and nephews, and cousins that can be in a farming operation. Maybe not even farming but they’re considered managers, and so they can get farm payments.Waste of taxpayers’ money, subsidizing big farms that get bigger, and cutting out young and beginning farmers.” He calls the bill an “open-ended spigot of taxpayer subsidies in Title 1.”

The bill reauthorizes U.S. Department of Agriculture programs through Fiscal Year 2023. Modifications include legalizing industrial hemp and making hemp producers eligible for the federal crop insurance program, establishing an interstate data system to prevent fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, increases the loan limits for farm ownership and operating loans, and reduces the adjusted gross income limitation for receiving benefits under commodity and conservation programs.