A bipartisan group of lawmakers is making a last-minute pitch to House Agriculture Committee leaders to wrap into the 2025 farm bill more than two dozen bills aimed at addressing climate change without sacrificing economic prosperity.
In a letter Friday to House Agriculture Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) and ranking Democrat David Scott of Georgia, Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) and Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) said “durable, bipartisan legislation is the best way to achieve our shared goals” including promoting resilient farming practices, expanded research and diverse rural energy. The two lawmakers chair the House Climate Solutions Caucus.
The bills they promoted are all bipartisan and touch on a wide range of agricultural and forest policies, from boosting climate-related research to expanding crop insurance into damage caused by wildfire smoke, to halting the spread of the crop-damaging spotted lanternfly.
The bills include a measure to expand crop insurance for mushroom growers; Thompson’s home state of Pennsylvania is the country’s top producer.
