He often flies under the radar, but Glenn "GT" Thompson is one of the most powerful people in rural America--The Cocklebur #2
And the Republican Chair of the House Agriculture Committee rakes in big bucks from big agriculture.
One of the biggest tasks for the 2023 Congressional session is re-writing and re-authorizing the federal Farm Bill. The package is negotiated every five years, and provides more than one hundred billion dollars annually through the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to fund nutrition and anti-hunger benefits, crop insurance and income support for farmers, private lands conservation payments, rural energy and telecommunications infrastructure, U.S. Forest Service land management, wildfire response, farm and food research, and targeted rural economic development assistance. The current Farm Bill expires on September 30, 2023. The Farm Bill negotiations have already begun, though no draft has been released.
A key player in crafting the Farm Bill is Glenn “GT” Thompson (GOP, PA-15th). As Chair of the House Agriculture Committee, Thompson wields significant power in shaping the size and scope of the legislative package—and as such, federal spending levels and investment priorities in many parts of rural America.
Since taking over earlier this year, Thompson has rebranded the House Agriculture Committee as “the reliable voice for Rural America.” He regularly uses his position and influence to criticize the Biden Administration for being “against production agriculture.”
Despite this rhetoric, agriculture is not a key economic driver in Thompson’s home district in North-Central Pennsylvania. In fact, none of the counties he represents are considered farming-dependent according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service typology codes.
Though his home district is no farming powerhouse, Thompson does excel at reaping campaign donations from corporate agribusiness. During the 2022 election cycle, Thompson was the top-ranking recipient of donations from the Farm Bureau, as well as the agriculture services, dairy, and sugar cane/sugar beet sectors, according to OpenSecrets.org. Top donors included the Alabama Farmers Federation, American Cotton Shippers Association, American Crystal Sugar, California Citrus Mutual, California Dairies, Inc., the California and Texas Farm Bureaus, Dairy Farmers of America, Michigan Sugar, Minn-Dak Farrmers Co-op, National Cotton Council, National Sorghum Producers, Plains Cotton Growers, Southern Cotton Growers, Southern Minn Beet Sugar Association, USA Rice Federation, and Western Growers Association.
The Cocklebur will regularly report on Chair Thompson and other members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees during the next few months as the farm bill re-authorization moves forward.
The Cocklebur covers rural policy and politics from a progressive point-of-view. Our work focuses on a tangled rural political reality of dishonest debate, economic and racial disparities, corporate power over our democracy, and disinformation peddled by conservative media outlets. We aim to use facts, data, and science to inform our point-of-view. We wear our complicated love/WTF relationship with rural America on our sleeve.