(Radio Iowa) – U-S Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says as the U-S-D-A extends grants and loans for everything from broadband expansion to production of alternative crops, not all that spending has to be tucked into the Farm Bill.  “Some of it’s going to be met through the Inflation Reduction Act. Some of it can be met through the normal budget process and some of it can be met by creative use of the Commodity Credit Corporation,” Vilsack says. “…If you use all the tools and all the tools are available, then we can get to a point where we have a Farm Bill that benefits the many and the most and not just the few.”

Congress appears on track to release a first draft of the 2023 Farm Bill this fall, close to the September 30th expiration of the last Farm Bill. Vilsack says it’s always tough to put a Farm Bill together. “Not so much because of the partisan challenges, but because of the geographic and commodity challenges and I think there’s also obviously a challenge relative to the financing of the Farm Bill,” Vilsack says. “but I think there is a genuine commitment on the part of both the House and Senate leadership on the Ag Committees to get to yes.”

The current Farm Bill, approved in late 2018, has provided subsidies for crop insurance, but 75 percent of the spending in the Farm Bill has gone to federal food assistance programs. Some House Republicans want to tighten eligibility for food stamps, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. Vilsack says the Biden Administration considers the issue to be resolved after new food stamp work requirements were included in last month’s budget deal that raised the federal government’s borrowing limit.

“I think that there are probably some things that could be done to strengthen the states’ administration of SNAP that would help and I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t see that being discussed in the context of the Farm Bill, but I don’t think you’re going to see additional work requirements or things of that nature,” Vilsack says. “I think that issue’s been, as I like to say, snapped shut.”

Vilsack says congress will have to find a way to permanently raise the pay for firefighters in the Forest Service, which is part of the U-S-D-A. The 2021 infrastructure bill provided a temporary fix, but Vilsack says in order to keep enough people on the payroll to fight wildfires, congress has to put more money into the Farm Bill for their pay.