House approves farm bill

On April 30, the House approved the farm bill, the “Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026,” by a vote of 224–200. The House’s successful vote is a major step forward in the farm bill process and marks the farthest a farm bill has made it in Congress since the most recent reauthorization in 2018. While the process in the House has been led by Republicans, the farm bill received bipartisan support with 14 Democrats joining 209 Republicans voting in favor of the bill. 

The past several days saw debate and votes on some of the farm bill's most controversial provisions. The House farm bill includes language that would bar states from requiring out-of-state farmers to follow their livestock production standards (Prop 12), despite an amendment effort to remove this language. However, House lawmakers did approve an amendment to strip from the farm bill language that would preempt state and local rules on pesticide warning labels. Despite a vocal Midwest effort, an amendment that would allow for the year-round sales of higher ethanol fuel blends, known as E15, was not included in the farm bill with a promise of a vote on the provision later in May.

This farm bill has been referred to as Farm Bill 2.0 or the Skinny Farm Bill given that most of the provisions with a price tag were included in last summer's reconciliation package, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” It is now up to the Senate Agriculture Committee to take action on its version of the farm bill if Congress hopes to enact a final compromise bill before the end of the calendar year.