Politics and pinball do sometimes have a lot in common. Both can produce surprising and unexpected results. Those lights and metal balls that pinball was known for before the digital age sometimes would make you an unexpected winner. Politics may do that for all those who want to revive the Farm Bill.

Politics has changed the game, apparently putting Democrats in the minority in both chambers. The GOP has definitely taken control of the Senate and appears to be inching out enough to control the House.

What this means for the stalled Farm Bill is not entirely known, but it does give some clues.

Farmers and ranchers have been waiting for more than a year for a new farm bill to be authorized. The 2018 Farm Bill, extended for a year, has since expired.

House and Senate Democrats are now reviewing their post-election status and might decide that they are in a stronger position to settle the Farm Bill before this year ends than to wait for the new Congress.

To accomplish that, Congress must pass a new Farm Bill before the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3, 2025.

The House Agriculture Committee, led by Rep. Glenn GT Thompson, R-PA, has its version of a new Farm Bill that could become the vehicle for moving forward if it is opened to Senate amendments.

“GT Thompson has done a phenomenal job. He has crafted a popular farm bill that was voted out of the House Ag Committee on a bipartisan basis,” said Ethan Lane, vice president of Government Affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

Lane says it’s a good bill, ready to move.

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who will become the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee in January, does not want to wait. She is calling for a new Farm Bill before the end of this year.

More than 100 lawmakers have called for the passage of a bipartisan Farm, Food, and National Security Act, reauthorizing the five-year Farm Bill before it expires in 2024.

“We’ve got to get an omnibus or a continuing resolution passed to fund the government and also pass a defense authorization bill, but we need to stay until it gets done simply,” says Sen. John Boozman, R-AR.

He reports that discussions are underway among staff and the four current leaders of the agriculture committees on the bill, and they’re still trying to figure out how to divide the $1.5 trillion bill’s spending.

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