Neither committee has presented a first-round version of the panoramic legislation, which can take months, or even years, to complete. The 2023 farm bill is expected to be the most expensive ever, with chapters on commodity subsidies, supplemental nutrition assistance, ag research, rural development, crop insurance, food aid, export promotion, farm credit, forestry, and land stewardship. Conservative Republicans are expected to propose limits on access to supplemental nutrition assistance. Congress is continuing to work toward a bipartisan bill that can be signed into law by the end of the year.

Congress is historically late in passage of farm bills. Trump signed the 2018 farm bill on Dec. 20, nearly three months after the statutory target of Sept. 30.

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I am fond of saying that one of the primary determinants of agricultural success in the U.S. is government policy. Let’s face it. It picks winners and losers, instills mandates and decides when to waive them, dictates many of our international marketing opportunities, drives our health care and education costs, regulates what we apply and when we apply it, and is rumored to have a thing or two to say about what energy we develop, deploy, and consume.

For those who want to debate the waxing or waning of the “era of big government,” they might want to speak with an agribusiness owner first. The people who are “here to help” are everywhere.

So, who is making the decisions? With agriculture and agribusiness being a top five industry in over half of our states, surely we are well represented in Congress? Well, it depends.

The Congressional Research Service recently updated its biennial report profiling the membership of the current Congress. While the dominant professions of congressional members are public service/politics, business, or law, I was surprised to see there are 27 farmers, ranchers, or cattle farm owners in Congress (six in the Senate, 21 in the House).

With slots for 435 House members and 100 senators, it appears that, as a percentage, farm owners make up about 5 percent of the overall elected officials in Washington, D.C.

One could easily argue that at 5 percent, farmers are overrepresented in Congress. They constitute slightly more than 1 percent of the U.S. population. But before you crow about that, you should know that 5 percent figure actually marks a steep decline in farmer representation since the end of World War II.

A progressive thinktank called the Brookings Institute and a conservative one called the American Enterprise Institute jointly publish a document entitled “Vital Statistics on Congress,” which has tracked the professions of Congressional members for 70 years. In 1953, the House had 63 members whose occupation before being elected was agriculture; the Senate had 21. Converting the numbers for that Congress to a percentage, it was more than 15 percent. The trendline here is that farmer participation in Congress is in decline, even if we are still holding our own.

Beyond the data, there’s the policy work. A prominent agriculture lobbyist told me that the House Agriculture Committee this year had to actively recruit members. There are 47 slots to fill on the House committee, so even if all the farmers joined it, they’d have to recruit more than two dozen more.

In the Senate, members still jockey to join the committee, which is why some eyebrows were raised when it welcomed its first vegan in January.

The point here is that much is said of big agriculture and its grip on Washington. And farmers have, in recent history, punched above their weight. But the forecast is not promising.

With aggies making up a smaller portion of the American electorate, a similar fate likely awaits their participation percentage in elected office.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Farmers and executives in the farm machinery business are generally well-regarded in their communities. Our farmer and agribusiness associations should offer resources for those in the agriculture industry willing to explore public office, and those of us with checkbooks should step up to support them when they do.

The future of ag policy depends on who is present for the conversation. Let’s make sure we’re there.

Ray Starling has been the general counsel for a state department of agriculture, a staffer on the U.S. Senate Ag Committee, and Chief of Staff to a U.S. senator. He joined the White House in 2017 as special assistant to the president for agricultural policy. In 2018, he became chief of staff for USDA’s Sonny Perdue. See this article in its entirety in Ag Innovator magazine, or at .

President Trump has endorsed the bill. When CNN asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell what the Senate would do when it receives the bill, his response was clear: “Pass it.” The Leader has also said. . .” the Senate will not adjourn until we have passed significant and bold new steps, above and beyond what the House passed, to help our strong nation and our strong underlying economy weather this storm.”

The job-protected leave portion of the bill says this: Government employees and employees of employers with fewer than 500 employees who have been on the job for at least 30 days will have the right to take job-protected leave.

The leave can be used for quarantine due to exposure to or symptoms of coronavirus; to care for an at-risk family member quarantined due to exposure to or symptoms of coronavirus; and to care for a child of an employee if the child’s school or child care has been closed or is unavailable due to coronavirus.

The 500-employee language is intended to be more inclusive than the existing protections under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) but does leave out some employees. Employers will be required to pay two-thirds of an employee’s earnings.

The bill also provides for a refundable tax credit equal to 100 percent of qualified paid sick or family leave wages paid by an employer for each calendar quarter. The tax credit is allowed against the employer portion of Social Security taxes. It applies to amounts paid to employees who are sick or quarantined; a lesser credit applies to amounts paid to employees caring for a family member or for a child whose school or place of care has been closed.

Caps and limits apply, including a $511-per-day sick cap and a 67 percent cap on family leave not to exceed $200 a day.

The bill also includes a provision for emergency transfers to administer unemployment compensation. It provides $1 billion for emergency grants to states for activities related to processing and paying unemployment insurance benefits.

The bill does not include an extension of the tax filing deadline; the deadline remains April 15.

It also does not include a payroll tax cut. President Trump called for payroll tax relief to last through the election, but neither party in Congress seemed inclined to agree. The law also:

• Requires private health plans to provide coverage for COVID-19 diagnostic testing, including the cost of a provider, urgent care center, and emergency room visits.
• Reimburses for the cost for COVID-19 diagnostic testing and services provided to those without health insurance.
• Funds COVID-19 diagnostic testing for veterans receiving care through Medical Services or through Medical Community Care.
• Funds nutrition assistance programs.