Senate Agriculture Committee Deadlocks 10-11 on the Agricultural Act of 2026, Stalling "Farm Bill 2.0" Over SNAP Error-Rate Cost Shifting
On August 6, 2026, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry failed to advance the Agricultural Act of 2026 — the five-year farm bill reauthorization branded "Farm Bill 2.0" — on a 10-11 party-line vote, leaving the package stranded in committee. The bill collapsed over a single unresolved fight: how quickly states would be forced to pick up a share of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit costs based on their payment error rates. Chairman John Boozman (R-Ark.) had negotiated directly with the White House to soften the nutrition title, agreeing to delay the state cost-sharing requirement by one year and to let states use whichever of their fiscal 2026 or 2027 error rates was lower. Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) pushed for a two-year delay, arguing the one-year window let the highest-error-rate states escape cost-sharing entirely while states that had already cleaned up their numbers were penalized. Luján's amendment to extend the delay — scored by CBO at roughly $19 billion — failed, and with it the bill. Most of the farm title enjoyed bipartisan support, and a mandatory country-of-origin labeling amendment drew Majority Leader John Thune along with Sens. Deb Fischer, John Hoeven, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst. But the SNAP impasse held, Democratic amendments were defeated along party lines, and the final vote failed. Boozman pointedly recessed rather than adjourned the committee, signaling he intends to bring the bill back after the August break. House Agriculture Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-Pa.) blamed Senate Democrats. Agriculture groups including the National Corn Growers Association, the American Soybean Association and the Farm Credit Council all voiced disappointment, warning the delay pushes a five-year farm bill further out of reach.
“I'm deeply disappointed by this outcome. We have a responsibility to stand with America's farmers, ranchers and rural communities.”