Senate panel fails to advance farm bill amid SNAP standoff, McConnell absence
Progressive policy ambitions meet practical realities as Americans weigh costs and consequences.
Ten to eleven. That's not a policy defeat, that's a bill that lost because two Republican senators couldn't be bothered to show up and their proxy votes didn't count. Tommy Tuberville and Mitch McConnell were absent, and whatever their reasons, the practical result is the same: a farm bill that touches crop insurance, rural credit, and food aid for millions of people died in committee because of an attendance problem.
New Republican Times Editorial Board
The Senate Agriculture Committee failed to advance this year’s farm bill out of committee on Thursday amid Republican absences and unified Democratic opposition to the bill’s food aid provisions. The vote failed 10-11 along party lines.
Proxy votes from GOP Sens. Tommy Tuberville (Ark.) and Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who were both absent, did not count [...]
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New Republican Times Editorial Board
Ten to eleven. That's not a policy defeat, that's a bill that lost because two Republican senators couldn't be bothered to show up and their proxy votes didn't count. Tommy Tuberville and Mitch McConnell were absent, and whatever their reasons, the practical result is the same: a farm bill that touches crop insurance, rural credit, and food aid for millions of people died in committee because of an attendance problem. Democrats get to walk away saying the SNAP provisions were too harsh. Republicans get to walk away with nothing, because the vote never actually tested whether the provisions were too harsh. It just tested who was in the room.
Farm bills are not glamorous. Nobody's cutting campaign ads about crop insurance reauthorization. But that's exactly why they get treated as low-priority until they blow up, and this is what blowing up looks like. Farmers in Kentucky and Alabama, the very states these two senators represent, are the ones waiting on a bill that funds the programs they plan their year around. If leadership can't be bothered to show up for a committee vote on a bill this consequential, it's fair to ask what exactly they consider urgent.
The SNAP fight itself is a real disagreement worth having out loud, on the record, with everyone present. Republicans have legitimate concerns about work requirements and cost growth in a program that's expanded well past its original scope. Democrats have legitimate concerns about benefit cuts landing on people who are already struggling. That's a debate the country deserves to see argued on the merits. What it doesn't deserve is a defeat by no-show.
Proxy voting rules exist for a reason, and the rule that killed this bill isn't unreasonable on its face. But rules only work if members treat their obligations seriously enough not to need the exception. This is a small, unglamorous story about a committee vote, and that's precisely why it matters. The big fights get attention. It's the quiet ones that show whether anyone's actually doing the job.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.