Salinas Votes to Protect SNAP, Farm Aid, and Climate-Smart Investments at Farm Bill Markup

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Representative Andrea Salinas (OR-06) issued the following statement after voting to protect food access for millions of Americans, emergency disaster assistance for farmers, and historic investments in climate-smart agriculture at the 2024 Farm Bill markup:

“When I came to Congress, I was excited and optimistic about the opportunity to serve on the House Agriculture Committee and give rural Oregon a voice in the Farm Bill. Over the last year and a half, I was further encouraged by what seemed like a genuine effort by Chairman Thompson and my Republican colleagues to reach across the aisle. We held countless meetings, conversations, and public forums in our districts – including one instance when the Chairman himself traveled to Oregon for a roundtable discussion – to gather perspectives and clarify the areas where Democrats and Republicans could work together. My Democratic colleagues and I have been incredibly transparent and open about the areas where we can find consensus, as well as our non-negotiables, every step of the way.

Unfortunately, the proposal put forth by Chairman Thompson is a far cry from compromise. Despite our many productive discussions throughout this process, House Republicans ultimately chose to ignore nearly all our red lines and push a bill that would cut food assistance for hungry families by $30 billion, eliminate flexible disaster assistance for farmers, and remove critical climate protections from the Inflation Reduction Act. These things were never up for negotiation. Yet Republicans still decided to move forward with a framework that has no chance of passing Congress.

While I was pleased to see some of my priorities included in Chairman Thompson’s proposal, such as changes to our wildfire response and crop insurance system to benefit specialty crop growers, these policies alone do not make up for the dangerous cuts that Republicans are making elsewhere in the Farm Bill. I never expected to get my full wish list. But compromise is a two-way street, and at the very least I had hoped Chairman Thompson would offer up a good starting point from which we could continue to work together and get this legislation across the finish line. This proposal is quite the opposite, and I could not in good conscience vote for a Farm Bill that takes food away from hungry children, seniors, and veterans, hurts farmers, and sends us backwards in the fight against climate change.

Even though this bill has advanced out of committee, it remains a deeply flawed product that, as currently written, will never receive enough Democratic support to become law. The good news is that this process isn’t over yet. Going forward, I will continue working with my colleagues on the Rules Committee and with my Senate counterparts to make corrections to this legislation and remove harmful provisions that would hurt Oregon farmers and families. The people of Oregon’s Sixth District deserve a Farm Bill that includes their needs and interests—and I will keep fighting to deliver that kind of bill."

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