"‘No Means No’: Conservation Spat May Still Sink Farm Bill"

"Republicans want to repurpose climate-related conservation funds, but Democrats are adamant that can’t happen."

"After more than a year of hearings, listening sessions and heavy lobbying by policy groups, the five-year bill that funds agriculture and nutrition programs doesn’t look much closer to becoming law than it did when the discussions began.

Democrats and Republicans remain solidly apart on two issues that have become focal points of the farm bill, which was due for renewal in 2023 and now looks in danger of failing to meet a second deadline of Sept. 30.

Pressed by the rising cost of — and need for — farm bill programs, Republicans continue to see the Inflation Reduction Act’s billions of dollars in conservation money as a potential funding pool for the farm legislation."

Marc Heller reports for E&E News February 27, 2024.

Source: E&E News, 02/28/2024