On June 24, U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Senator John Boozman (R-AR) released the Senate draft of the Farm Bill, marking the beginning of formal Senate consideration of the legislation ahead of an expected committee markup next month. At a high level, the proposal largely mirrors the House bill approved in April, preserving many of the same provisions related to forestry, wildfire resilience, rural infrastructure, and rural health care, while making targeted modifications to several of the bill’s more contested provisions. However, the Senate proposal does not reverse or delay the SNAP state cost-sharing requirements enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a change Senate Democrats have indicated will be necessary to secure their support for a final Farm Bill. While the Senate proposal omits the Save Our Bacon Act and several other House provisions opposed by Senate Democrats, significant questions remain as to whether those changes will be sufficient to secure the bipartisan coalition necessary to reach the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.
The measure includes several provisions aimed at strengthening forest management, rural infrastructure, and rural health care. The legislation incorporates language largely based on the Senate version of the Fire-Safe Electrical Corridors Act (S. 349); expands Good Neighbor Authority to include special districts such as Resource Conservation Districts; and advances a number of broader forest management reforms intended to accelerate hazardous fuels reduction and forest restoration projects. The bill also permanently authorizes the ReConnect broadband program at $100 million annually through Fiscal Year 2031; expands support for rural broadband deployment and water infrastructure; and creates a new zero-interest Rural Hospital Revitalization Loan Program to support the construction and renovation of rural hospital facilities.
For more information, contact Mary-Ann Warmerdam, RCRC Senior Vice President, Government Affairs.