Congress includes two key climate agriculture programs in omnibus

Two key climate agriculture programs will be included in the final version of the year-end government funding package, after months of stalled negotiations and rising tensions on the House Agriculture Committee over the legislation, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

Climate measures: After a breakdown in talks earlier this year, congressional negotiators hammered out a compromise deal to add both pieces of legislation to the government funding package. The deal made it into the final version of the funding package, which lawmakers are set to unveil in the coming hours.

The two bills are: The SUSTAINS Act championed by the top House Ag Republican G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) and the Growing Climate Solutions Act led by House Ag Democrat Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.).

Behind the scenes: The months-long tug-of-war between Thompson and Spanberger over the Growing Climate Solutions Act drove tensions on the committee, especially between Spanberger and Chair David Scott who refused to push the bill through the committee without Republican support. Both Spanberger and Thompson separately tried to sway House leaders on the bill’s path forward, and the stalled talks fueled conversations among Democrats who have questioned Scott’s effectiveness as chair.

Inside the talks: Republicans secured several concessions on the Growing Climate Solutions Act for it to be added to the omnibus, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The original bill essentially calls for USDA to create certification programs to make it easier for farmers to participate in carbon markets to earn money for adopting climate-friendly farm practices. Those concessions added restrictions to ensure USDA couldn’t use an internal fund to implement the program or to unilaterally expand it in the future.

Farm bill impact: The inclusion of both bills in the government funding package means Republicans and Democrats can skip what was shaping up to be heated and time-consuming discussions about whether to add either bill to the final farm bill.

Child food assistance: Negotiators also reached a deal last week to provide critical summer meals for school-aged children in exchange for winding down some pandemic food aid programs earlier than planned, according to two Hill aides familiar with the talks.

The final government funding legislation will make permanent the summer EBT food program and allow for other flexibilities in summer food assistance programs, after several efforts by Democrats to pass a similar measure failed earlier this Congress.

What’s out: Congress is poised to leave out of the government funding packageproposed farmworker labor reforms from Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and others, despite a last-ditch effort to secure key Republican support for the measure. Supporters argue the massive legislation will likely be the last chance for lawmakers to pass any immigration reform for the next several years, as Republicans prepare to take a majority in the House.

Negotiators also left out any pieces of bipartisan legislation to reform cattle markets or appoint a special investigator at USDA to look into possible anti-competitive behavior in the meatpacking sector. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), one of the main forces behind the cattle markets bill, recently told POLITICO she “would resist the bill being broken up” because to “truly get reform in price transparency, you have to have the entire bill together.”