Experts Brief Council on 2023 Farm Bill

(Left to right) Chris Klenklen, Dr. Pat Westhoff, Joel Leftwich, Sec. Mike Beam, Dustin Johansen

In their presentations previewing budget projections for the 2023 Farm Bill, Dr. Pat Westhoff, director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri, and Joel Leftwich, chief strategy officer for the Kansas Farm Bureau, provided an in-depth and entertaining look at the process of creating a Farm Bill. And getting it passed. Both noted that lawmakers tended to think drawing up a Farm Bill was easier said than done. With a drollness (perhaps picked up from his days as deputy staff director for Senator Roberts), Leftwich indicated many Ag Committee members were nonplussed by an urgency to get a bill passed before the five-year fiscal deadline.

Dr. Westhoff mentioned the key to creating a Farm Bill was not just writing one, but scoring it. “So, some key issues in the farm bill debate,” he said, “include considerations such as the budget target for the new bill and determining the net change in spending from the current bill.” Other topics for discussion and debate center on increasing the budget or cutting it to reduce the deficit. He also emphasized that “new budget projections by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) will provide a point of reference for the debate over the next farm bill.” If the debate follows the pattern of recent farm bills, he explained, budgetary concerns are likely to be front and center.

In recent reports, Dr. Westhoff has said the projected annual budget deficit increases from $1.3 trillion this year to $2.3 trillion in 2033, as federal spending increases more rapidly than tax receipts. Social Security and Medicare account for more than half of the $3.7 trillion increase in annual federal spending over the next ten years.

Policymakers in both parties are reluctant to reduce allocations for Social Security and Medicare, and a Republican House does not want to raise taxes. “If the 2023 Farm Bill is expected either to reduce or to have no net impact on the federal budget deficit, any proposal to increase spending in one program will have to be offset by equal or larger reductions in other program spending. Identifying potential areas of budget cuts that a majority of the House, the Senate and the President can all agree upon will be a major challenge.”

While Dr. Westhoff highlighted the budgetary issues the Senate and House ag committees face, Leftwich focused more on the political makeup up of the House and Senate ag committees. Of note, he showed that the GOP House and Senate ag committees had a combined membership of 18 lawmakers with Farm Bill experience. Democrat membership in the House and Senate ag committees included only 11 lawmakers with Farm Bill experience.