(Radio Iowa) – The Ag Committee in the U.S. House has passed an 800-page Farm Bill that would set federal agriculture and food assistance program rules and spending for five years. The 2018 Farm Bill expired in 2023, but congress could not agree on a new version, so it approved extensions — and some program updates were included in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” President Trump signed last summer. Democrats say the Farm Bill that’s proposed is flawed because it does not include change U.S. tariff policies or make year-round E-15 sales federal policy.

The House Ag Committee’s Republican chairman says those decisions are outside of the committee’s jurisdiction. Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull who’s been leading negotiations on a separate E-15 bill, says it’s unreasonable for Democrats to demand that those items be included in the Farm Bill. “Here’s the thing: farmers and ranchers, they want our help. They want this bill. They need it because it’s the next step. I would have loved to have done it in 2024. We had bipartisan support in 2024, but it didn’t happen. Then we tried it in 2025 and now it’s 2026,” Feenstra said.

“Are we going to come together and get this done or not?” Feenstra is a member of the House Ag Committee. Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn, a Republican from Ankeny, is on the panel, too, and he says the Farm Bill that cleared the committee Thursday will provide certainty to the farming community. “But the Farm Bill is only part of the equation for Iowa’s 87,000 family farms and hundreds of thousands of farmers across our country. They need certainty when it comes to things like biofuel policy,” Nunn says. “…We owe it to our farmers, our families and our friends to deliver certainty and stability in the market and that means year-round, nationwide E15.”

Seven Democrats joined Republicans on the committee to advance the Farm Bill, making it eligible for debate in the U.S. House. The proposed Farm Bill includes a provision that has been introduced in the Iowa legislature. It would shield pesticide manufacturers that follow E-P-A labeling guidelines from lawsuits alleging the chemicals cause cancer.