With the “red wave” having washed over the country, Washington bureaucrats are more focused on determining what changes will mean for them, not the business of running the country.
From working “feverishly” to get judicial nominations in place, to setting up “the resistance” and trying“Trump-proof” progressive policies, they’re grinding away. The media’s obsession with those efforts overlooks the reality that reversing, modifying or erasing measures already in place is never simple.
It’s not as simple as issuing one Executive Order to erase an earlier one. Rescinding policies is done via a process. In Washington, process is often used to camouflage what is, essentially, bureaucratic resistance.
That fails to consider that President Trump has little, if any, reluctance to go directly to the most extreme option when dealing with bureaucrats and red tape. That puts any option, from recess appointments to impoundment of federal funds on the table.
Here’s one certainty: in a matter of days, lame duck legislators will be dead ducks, replaced by newly-elected successors. And Republican majorities in both houses mean committee shakeups.
Change will be very obvious on the Senate Agriculture Committee. Two new members will join that committee- and who sits where with positions based on seniority and party majorities, changes too.
After 24 years, Michigan’s Debbie Stabenow is leaving the Senate. With her goes the Democratic committee chairmanship. The current ranking committee member, John Boozman of Arkansas, is in line to become the Committee Chair.
With the Republican majority, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota will now become ranking member -not the Committee Chair. Might not seem like much of a change, but committee chairs decide what measures come before the committee- and when.
Klobuchar expressed hopes the lame duck session could get a farm bill done so it would be “off lawmakers’ plate next year.” Some observers call that shorthand for “before Republicans start changing Democratic spending priorities.”
The defeat of Ohio’s Sherrod Brown shakes up a pair of Senate committees: Agriculture and Banking. Brown was the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee. Now that committee will have a new chair, and a new ranking member.
A compromise bill passing this session isn’t likely, leaving a stopgap measure the most viable option. Republicans have no incentive to rush a bill to completion, especially with Democratic pet projects included. House Ag Committee chair Glenn Thompson says the failure to have not passed a Farm Bill is Stabenow’s due to her refusal to consider SNAP cuts or allowing climate funds to be used for conservation practices that don’t “reduce greenhouse gasses or sequester carbon in the soil.”
“If we do the things that are really disaster-driven or are absolutely essential because of the issue of market volatility, disaster relief for farmers,” Thompson has said, “I think that’s a positive thing.”
The 2018 farm law expired in 2023. Congress extended it for one year. If Congresses fails to pass a bill or another extension, the farm program would revert to the 1949 permanent ag law -and subsidies with what experts call “unworkably high levels.”
The AG committee might lack the panache of other committees, but provides funding to many “essential” outdoor programs, from conservation easements and stewardship programs to funding regional programs. Fortunately, outdoor priorities aren’t major sticking points -or likely targets for major budget cuts.
Republicans have targeted “climate-friendly” ag dollars and future nutrition spending (SNAP) as targets for their 2025 budget reconciliation package. They’re already keyed in on nearly $13-billion in unspent “climate smart ag dollars” that Democrats have characterized as a “major achievement” in their green initiatives.
Billions are already spent on subsidies for farmers adopting “greener practices,” but the chances for those additional billions surviving the 2025 reconciliation process are slim, especially with major spending targets being SNAP and climate mitigation programs.
Republicans want a 15% increase in “reference prices,”making it easier to release subsidy payments to farmers, along with a $29 billion dollar cut in SNAP, and climate funds to be spent on conservation practices that neither sequester carbon or reduce greenhouse gases.
Democrats oppose any SNAP cuts and insist “guardrails” for climate change must remain in place.
With new congressional majorities, Republicans will be considerably less inclined to compromise, especially on areas President Trump has already ridiculed. He’s also made significant reductions in government spending - and waste - an administration priority.
But it is Washington, where back office deals are made on a daily basis.
We’ll keep you posted.
— Jim Shepherd
