September Sprint (Or Sputter). And Some Thoughts on September 11th.
Both chambers of Congress return to work today. Hundreds of billions of federal dollars on the chopping block for rural America. The federal budget and Farm Bill both expire at the end of the month.
The U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate will both return to work today, facing critical deadlines on federal appropriations and looming expiration of the 2018 Farm Bill. Hundreds of billions of dollars supporting rural people and rural communities are at stake.
The House Appropriations Committee passed their version of the coming fiscal year’s budget for agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and rural development programs on June 14th,, 2023, but the package is stalled by Republican infighting and has yet to pass the full House.
The Senate Appropriations Committee passed their version of the FY2024 federal agriculture and rural budget on a 28-0 bipartisan vote later in June. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) says that his body could be ready to pass their bipartisan budget in time to meet the September 30th deadline.
On the Farm Bill front, neither the House nor Senate has yet delivered a draft for re-authorization. Nearly all Agriculture Committee leaders and Farm Bill experts are expecting an extension, though no formal plan has been released.
Right now, there are clearly more questions than answers related to rural budgets and spending when the new federal fiscal year begins October 1st. Will Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) relent to the austerity Republicans and shut down the government? Will the Republicans be able to slash clean energy and health care investments? Will the Republicans hold up Farm Bill re-authorization once again in an attempt to slash SNAP nutrition benefits for poor and working class people?
And, ultimately, will all of the tantrums and speeches and political grandstanding result in status quo appropriations and Farm Bill packages that should have been completed months ago had Congress simply buckled down and got to work?
September 11th, 2023, brings a strong notion of deja vu and nostalgia for me here at The Cocklebur. Twenty-two years ago this morning, I was on a flight headed to Washington, D.C., to advocate for a new Farm Bill focused on improved farm income, enhanced conservation programs, breaking up corporate agribusiness monopolies, and larger federal investments in rural development and nutrition programs.
That September 11th, 2001, flight never made it to D.C., of course, forced to land along with many others at a random airport far from our destination (for me it was Louisville). Once on the ground, we de-boarded to watch on the terminal television screens as the brutal al-Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center played out in real time. And in the chaos and anxiety and saber-rattling that followed, everything did actually change.
Contemporary political discourse has settled on a formula of centering “democracy under attack” from the forces of former President Donald Trump, the January 6th Capital insurrection, and the various flavors of election results deniers on the anti-democracy Right. But to me, the switch flipped on September 11th 2001 as former President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and their bipartisan gang of war-mongering accolites decided that democracy, truth, transparency, and open government were no longer necessary. Their lies and deceptions led to the deaths of millions and the burning of trillions of dollars of U.S. taxpayer dollars.
I remember September 11th each year as a day of darkness, a day when democracy gave way to the militaristic impulses of Empire, a day that launched an aggressive and never-ending purse for weapons and war. Keep that in mind the next time you hear a politician ask “how are we gonna pay for it?”
—Bryce
P.S. I appreciate you indulging me as I rant about the waste and destruction of the military-side of the budget ledger.
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.