House Agriculture Committee chairman targets Easter farm bill passage

Key Takeaways

A Mid-Atlantic snowstorm did not delay trips back to Washington, D.C. for any of the members of Congress slated to speak at the Feb. 23 General Session. But it did delay House Agriculture Chairman G.T. Thompson’s scheduled markup of the farm bill that afternoon, because not all members were so fortunate.

“Time is of the essence for our farmers, our ranchers and quite frankly, our rural communities,” he said, targeting House passage of the farm bill by Easter— April 5. “Let’s face it — the 2018 policy was really great for 2018, but it’s no match for the challenges of 2026.”

In the intervening years, the COVID-19 pandemic fueled a partial migration away from cities, which Thompson, a Republican, noted in his Central Pennsylvania district. 

“We have a lot of hunting camps in my district, as you can imagine, and the lights were on during COVID, and they never went off,” he said. “They actually became residences for these folks.”

That demographic shift is just one reason rural development policy needs an update, which should have been done in 2023. 

Thompson said that in contrast to many state legislatures’ processes that generate policy through the work of a select group of experts, the Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2026 is the fruit of more than 150 listening sessions around the country, a strategy he called “tripartisan.” 

“I happen to believe that people will know the best solutions are the ones that are dealing with the problems,” he said. “Having a restored, robust economy and really growing the population of rural America with the right resources, this is what we can accomplish.”

The Rural Health Care Facility Technical Assistance Program Act, for example, would provide funding to vulnerable rural hospitals. 

“We can prevent closures, we provide essential health services and improve the long-term stability of these key community institutions,” Thompson said. “All our goal is, is to ensure that our rural healthcare facilities not only survive, but they thrive.”

The farm bill includes nearly 150 separate bills addressing agriculture, nutrition, infrastructure, rural development, healthcare, technology and more.

“Many of them accomplish vastly different objectives, but they are all have one thing in common: They work to move rural America forward,” Thompson said. “These are not flashy programs. We're talking about wastewater. But these are important programs that provide us a strong foundation for the rest of the community to build on.”