When it comes to the farm bill, the clock is ticking.

According to Indiana Farm Bureau’s public policy team, Congress needs to pass a bill this year – before the November election – or risk getting it tangled up in the politics of a lame-duck Congress.

“Right now it’s still up in the air,” said Brantley Seifers, INFB national affairs director. “Farm Bureau’s position is: Just get it done.”

The current farm bill expired last September but has since been extended twice. The current extension continues authorizations until Sept. 30 and for the 2024 crop year, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Of course the main reason why the bill needs to be passed is that it authorizes mandatory and discretionary spending that provides assistance and guidance related to food and farms. It is an omnibus, multiyear law that governs an array of agricultural and food programs, and it provides an opportunity for policymakers to address a broad range of agricultural and food issues about every five years.

But the reason why Farm Bureau is so insistent that it be passed sooner rather than later is that the November election has the potential to create so many unknowns.

“During a presidential election year, there are fewer legislative days,” Seifers said. All members of the U.S. House of Representatives are running for reelection, as are many members of the Senate. This means they spend fewer days in Washington, he explained, and will therefore take fewer votes.

After the election comes an odd, indefinite period known as a “lame-duck session,” which occurs whenever Congress meets after new members have been elected but before the new members’ terms have begun.

After that will come a new Congress: As of early April, eight members of the Senate and 42 members of the House had announced they would not seek reelection in 2024. Indiana alone will have at least three new House members and one new senator. In addition to all these new members, there could be new leadership as well.

“If they don’t pass a farm bill in the second quarter of 2024, who knows when they’re going to get around to it?” Seifers said. “You just don’t know who you’ll be dealing with.”

The American Farm Bureau Federation and INFB are asking members to urge Congress to pass a farm bill in 2024. Farm Bureau has made it easy to contact U.S. representatives to make this request. To do so, visit AFBF’s farm bill action alert page.