Farm Bill Passed Out of Senate Committee on Agriculture

October 6, 2026
Article by Ivy Jean Reynolds

Before the August recess, the Senate Committee on Agriculture considered the farm bill but the bill failed to pass out of Committee with a final vote of 10-11. During this vote, Senators Mitch McConnell (KY- R) and Tommy Tuberville (AL-R) were not present for the vote. Rather than adjourn the meeting, Chairman John Boozman (AR- R) recessed the Committee. This allows for the Committee to reconvene at any time and reconsider the bill.

On September 16, 2026, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry reconvened to consider the farm bill.
With all Senators present, the bill passed out of committee in a 12-11 vote.

The Committee-passed farm bill did not include the two year extension for the implementation of the cost shift to states for federal nutrition programs. For this reason, Democrats on the committee did not support the bill. While the bill did include language for
mandatory country of origin labeling, the bill did not address other controversial items covered in the House of Representative’s
version of the bill (including language to overturn California’s proposition 12).

The farm bill will now await a vote on the floor of the Senate. The bill will need 60 votes to pass out of the Senate and a bipartisan vote will be required to vote the bill to the Conference Committee. The Conference committee is a bicameral (from both chambers of Congress) committee whose task is to find compromise between two differing bills passed by either chamber for final passage and to be signed into law by the President. Currently both parties are in a stalemate over the nutrition provisions and without further compromise, the bill is unlikely to pass the Senate.