A government shutdown looms October 1, because Congress has procrastinated on its spending bills and Trump refuses to negotiate with Democrats.
Now comes the mad rush to stuff all the remaining appropriations, including for agriculture and the environment, into one big omnibus. It's the least democratic way to legislate. Everything will happen in a rush behind closed doors and when the bill gets to the floor no one will have had time to read it. Without knowing what they're voting for, most Republicans and Democrats will just give their blind support. What choice will they have? It will be the only way to get the government running again.
This is a travesty, for all sorts of reasons, but one of the scary things that happens in these end-of-the-fiscal-year games of chicken is that powerful corporations find ways to slip in policy riders, special legislative favors from Senators and Members of Congress in exchange for the legal bribery known as campaign contributions.
The House environment appropriations bill has 72 riders, including one just for Bayer (Monsanto).
TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress Not to Shut Down the Government! Pass an Appropriations Bill--Without the Bayer Protection Act!
Federal farm politics have never been worse.
Earlier this year, Trump’s U.S. Department of Agriculture stopped payments on more than $20 billion appropriated by Congress for regenerative agriculture and local food purchasing programs.
Instead of a genuine Farm Bill, the Republican-led Congress passed Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which slashed hunger program funding to funnel more money to wealthy landowners and polluting factory farms that produce unhealthy junk food ingredients.
Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" would put even more money into the pockets of the richest landowners by:
- eliminating a current provision that restricts people with adjusted gross incomes of $900,000 or more from receiving certain USDA benefits,
- increase annual payment limits from $125,000 to $155,000 per person, another boon for rich "farming" families (they're not the ones doing the actual work), and
- enroll 30 million more acres in annual commodity payment programs for peanuts, cotton and rice, further entrenching this system where Members of Congress give away our tax dollars to their richest constituents in exchange for campaign contributions.
And, that's just counting farm subsidy payments. Another way Members of Congress enrich their landholding donors is through disaster relief. Last year, Congress set aside $30 billion in disaster aid for farmers. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins directed $10 billion of those funds to the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program. Plenty of actual farmers are still suffering from the floods and fires of 2024 and need help, including the small-scale, regenerative, and organic farmers who haven't been getting federal funds, but the rest of the money has yet to be dispersed.
Money for rich landowners is coming from a 30 percent reduction in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps). More than three million people will go without food and many millions more will receive much less help. Over the next 10 years, payments to the richest landowners will increase by $56.4 billion, while hungry people will receive $294.7 billion less.
Do the math and you can see that money robbed from hungry people is paying for more than farm subsidies. The reverse Robinhood is part of a larger heist.
The Big Beautiful Bill would make $1.1 trillion in health cuts, leaving 11.8 million people uninsured, to deliver lowered tax rates to the wealthy and bigger tax deductions to their hedge funds, while expanding military spending by $163 billion.
TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress To Say No to the “Big Beautiful Bill” and Reauthorize the Farm Bill!
Personal Information
*SAMPLE TEXT TO YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS*
You will be able to modify this text on the next page, after entering your information.
Dear [Member of Congress],
I am deeply saddened by passage of the Big Ugly Bill. I can't believe Congress did this instead of reauthorizing the Farm Bill.
Since the Obama Administration, Congress has been guilty of dereliction of duty for failing to pass 12 regular appropriations in favor of rolling everything into omnibus spending bills. Now, Congress has hit a new low by stuffing the Farm Bill into an omnibus without a proper reauthorization.
Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" contains the worst possible food and farm policies. It will shovel even more money into the pockets of the richest landowners by:
- eliminating a current provision that restricts people with adjusted gross incomes of $900,000 or more from receiving certain USDA benefits,
- increasing annual payment limits from $125,000 to $155,000 per person, another boon for rich "farming" families (they're not the ones doing the actual work), and
- enrolling 30 million more acres in annual commodity payment programs for peanuts, cotton and rice, further entrenching this system where Members of Congress give away our tax dollars to their richest constituents in exchange for campaign contributions.
This (and more) will be paid for by cutting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps) by about 30 percent. More than three million people will be denied food and many millions more will receive much less help. Over the next 10 years, payments to the richest landowners will increase by $56.4 billion, while hungry people will receive $294.7 billion less.
Do the math and it's obvious that the money robbed from hungry people is paying for more than just farm subsidies. The reverse Robinhood is part of a larger heist.
The Big Beautiful Bill will make $1.1 trillion in health cuts, leaving 11.8 million people uninsured, to deliver lowered tax rates to the wealthy and bigger tax deductions to the hedge funds, while expanding military spending by $163 billion.
Congress should have passed a Farm Bill reauthorization that includes:
- a generous Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program so that everyone can be healthfully nourished,
- support for the growth of local regenerative organic agriculture through fully-funded Natural Resources Conservation Service and Agricultural Marketing Service programs, and
- a message to the Trump Administration demanding disbursement of USDA funds appropriated by Congress in the Inflation Reduction Act and the American Relief Act.
Thank you.
[Your Name]