Nutrition, conservation advocate Stabenow to retire in two years

Senate Agriculture chair Debbie Stabenow, who rejected Republican attempts to slash SNAP in the 2014 and 2018 farm bills, said on Thursday that she would retire from the Senate in two years — enough time to enact another farm bill. Stabenow, the first woman elected to the Senate from Michigan, is serving her second stint as Agriculture chair and has said for months that “we’re not going backwards” on SNAP in the new farm bill.

Stabenow, 72, said she would focus in the next two years on passage of “the next five-year farm bill, which determines our nation’s food and agriculture policies. It is also key to protecting our land and water and creating jobs in our rural and urban communities.”

Stabenow, who has served four terms in the Senate, was instrumental in passage of the $2 billion “cash for clunkers” program to stabilize the auto industry following the 2008 financial crisis. Since 2011, she has been the senior Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, where she’s known as an advocate for public nutrition, land stewardship, and urban agriculture programs. Last month, she won congressional approval of permanent funding for the Summer EBT food program for school-age children.

She was first elected to office, to the Ingham County board of supervisors, in 1974, at age 24, and served in the Michigan legislature and the U.S. House before being elected to the Senate in 2000. In announcing her decision to retire, Stabenow said it was time for a new generation of leaders. She pointed proudly to the growing number of women in office and said, “I have always believed it’s not enough to be the ‘first’ unless there is a ‘second’ and a ‘third.’ ”

“Debbie and I are confident Democrats will retain the seat,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Democrats hold a 51-49 majority at present. President Biden won the state, 51-48, in 2020; former president Donald Trump carried the state by 0.23 percentage points in 2016.

“She has two more years of effective leadership,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, when asked about the impact on the 2023 farm bill. “She gets it done. She knows how to get to ‘yes.’ ”

“Sen. Stabenow’s influence has helped safeguard nutrition funding, promote the diversity and breadth of the specialty crop industry, advance urban agriculture, and protect conservation funding,” said Rep. David Scott, the Democratic leader on the House Agriculture Committee.

The senior Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, John Boozman of Arkansas, citing work with Stabenow on Summer EBT and disaster aid for farmers in late 2022, predicted a successful partnership on the farm bill. “We will continue to build on those efforts as we work to pass a farm bill this year that will provide producers with the safety net they need during a very precarious time for agriculture,” he said.

Arkansas Rep. Rick Crawford told Politico that House Republicans want to expand work requirements for able-bodied adults in SNAP and end emergency benefits approved during the pandemic. “We need to tighten up,” he said. So-called ABAWDs — short for able-bodied adults without dependents — generally are limited to 90 days of benefits in a three-year period unless they work at least 20 hours a week. Coronavirus relief legislation suspended the time limit.

At a food conference last fall, Stabenow said “we’re not going backwards” on SNAP benefits, although cuts may be proposed for the 2023 farm bill. Public nutrition and farm supports have been yoked in the farm bill since the 1970s. Public nutrition outlays, dominated by SNAP, account for three-fourths of farm bill spending.

“Sen. Stabenow has been a bipartisan force to be reckoned with on everything from nutrition to conservation to climate policy,” said Helena Bottemiller Evich, editor of the Food Fix newsletter, on social media. “It’s difficult to overstate how big of a hole this will leave for food/ag in the Senate.”