Farm Bill Failure Surpasses 1,000 Days!

Former U.S. Senate Ag Committee Chair Tom Harkin says Farm Bill failure is “unconscionable” and harms family farmers

Barry Piatt from Barry Piatt on Politics:  Behind the Curtains

WASHINGTON, D.C.) — The failure by Congress to enact a new Farm Bill reached a new and previously unthinkable milestone Saturday crossing the 1,000 days overdue mark.

This column has been tracking that on-going congressional failure on a weekly basis. As of Sunday, June 28, our weekly “Overdue Farm Bill Tracker” now clocks the failure by Congress to do its most fundamental work for family farmers at 1,001 days.

The clock is still ticking.

Former chairman of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) – has a word for this failure, and its a strong one: “unconscionable.”

Harkin said the inability of Congress to enact a new Farm Bill more than 1,000 days after the old one expired is a great disservice to family farmers who need to plan their farming operations years in advance, but have not been able to do so for 1,001 days (as of Sunday)

In an interview with this column, Harkin described the impact of this failure:

“Just put. yourself in the place of farmers,” Harkin. said. “You don’t know what to expect. What’s it (the federal farm program) going to be next year, or the year after?

Harkin served on both the House or Senate Agriculture Committees for a total of 40 years, 10 years in the House and 30 years n the Senate. He had a major role in drafting and enacting every Farm Bill that was enacted over those years.

For 12 years. and 7 months, Harkin served as either chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee or as its Ranking Member, the senior member of the minority party on the committee. In both positions he led committee members in drafting, enacting, and negotiating new Farm Bills, including the FarmBills of 1996, 2002, 2008.

Each of those Farm bills were multi-year Farm Bills.

“Farmers knew they could count on what the farm program was going to be. Now they don’t know. They are operating blind.”

“This is unconscionable,” Harkin said about the current failure to write and enact a new Farm Bill for more than 1,000. days, after the previous one expired.

For a little perspective on the amount of time that has passed without a new Farm Bill, it is useful to recall that President John F. Kennedy’s entire presidency lasted 1,036 days, a length of time US family farmers will have gone without a new Farm Bill as of August 2, 2026, just 35 days from Sunday, June 28.

Iowa’s current congressional delegation bears special responsibility for this massive failure. Two thirds of the Iowa delegation serves on either the House or Senate Agriculture Committee: Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) in the Senate; and Reps. Zach Nunn (R-3rd IA) and Randy Feenstra (R-4th IA) in the House.

Iowa is one of only three states to have both senators on the Senate Agriculture Committee. It is one of only two states to have both senators from the majority party that controls the committee on it.

In the US House, Iowa is one of only 13 states (out of 50) to have more than one member on the House Agriculture Committee.

Given the importance of agriculture to Iowa’s economy, Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks (R-1st IA) and Ashley Hinson (R-2nd IA) also have a special responsibility to move the Farm Bill to enactment.

Yet, there is little evidence they have done much toward that end.

President Trump and Iowa’s congressional delegation frequently talk about how important farmers and agriculture are, but Trump’s most noticeable impact on the farm economy is to sharply raise input costs with his war in Iran and destroy foreign markets for American farm products with his chaotic and inexplicable tariffs.

As a result, the pace of farm bankruptcies is reaching record levels as cost rise and prices decline as foreign buyers look elsewhere for more reliable suppliers.

Rather than produce a Farm Bill farmers can use to chart a course toward profitability, Trump seems to have opted for a policy of welfare-like bailout checks for the nation’s farmers.

Farmers have a reputation as rugged, independent, hard workers who want to earn their own way. Yet, welfare style “bailout checks” have become a continuing way of life for many farmers during Trump’s presidencies.

There has been little push back from Iowa’s “Silent Six” in Congress to any of that – certainly nothing that effectively changed Trump’s policies impacting the farm economy, and certainly nothing that got a new Farm Bill enacted over the past more than 1,000 days.

I have written several times in this column that the “Silent Six” is the worst and weakest congressional delegation Iowa has sent to Washington, D.C. in the 180 year history of the state.

The failure to move a new Farm Bill to enactment for more than 1,000 days may be the greatest failure of this worst ever congressional delegation’s many failures.

Tom Harkin, knows more than a thing or two about Farm Bills after 40 years of working to write, negotiate and enact them.

He has it exactly right.

The failure to enact a new Farm Bill for more than 1,000 days after the old one expired is “unconscionable.”

Do your. jobs, Iowa congressional delegation!

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