Plaskett Takes Issue with Farm Bill, SNAP Cuts

  Plaskett Takes Issue with 

    Farm Bill, SNAP Cuts

M.A. Dworkin

     Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett released a statement regarding the U.S. House of Representatives passage of H.R. 7567, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026. 

     “The Farm Bill is an opportunity to stand with farmers and families who are struggling under the weight of rising input costs, skyrocketing grocery prices, reckless tariffs, and the economic strain of the ongoing war. Unfortunately, the bill passed by House Republicans chose instead to cement the largest cuts to SNAP in history - $187 billion stripped from food assistance in H.R. 1 - while offering nothing to reverse the devastation already underway. More than 40 million Americans will see their benefits reduced or eliminated, 16 million children, 8 million seniors, 1.2 million veterans, and 4 million people with disabilities. Virgin Islanders who rely on SNAP - our children, elders, veterans and hard working families, will feel these cuts. This is not a policy choice. It is a moral failure. 

     “Rather than making food more affordable for working families, Republicans used the Farm Bill to override the will of voters by preempting state food production standards that were approved at the ballot box and upheld by the Supreme Court. And they gutted nearly $800 million from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program - one of the most essential tools farmers rely on to protect their land and manage rising costs.

     “This bill also fails rural communities. It fails beginning farmers and farmers of color, key groups necessary for the future of farming in the Virgin Islands. It provides no new or additional funding for rural small business programs, strips legal set-asides for beginning farmers in USDA lending, and weakens the 2501 Program - the only USDA program specifically focused on supporting farmers of color. At a time when farm bankruptcies have surged 46 percent and USDA projects farm income to continue falling, this bill turns its back on the very people it claims to serve.

     “For the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Territories, I fought to deliver meaningful provisions to this bill. I am proud that included in the bill was my amendment which requires the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a study identifying suitable locations in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam for the development of aquaculture small businesses, including assessments of water quality, coastal access, infrastructure needs, and applicable regulatory requirements. That support from the Department of Agriculture to the Virgin Islands aquaculture development will provide substantive support to the development of this industry. Aquaculture represents a real opportunity for growth and food security in the Territories, and I will continue to push for these investments.

     “But make no mistake - a Farm Bill that does not support farmers of color (who have been disproportionately impacted by prior discriminatory policy) or programs which provide resources to new and emerging farmers, does not deserve our support. Republicans have openly stated their intent to come back for even more SNAP cuts through future reconciliation packages. We cannot accept a bill that treats food assistance as an afterthought while families are paying $310 more for groceries than they were just a year ago, and fruit and vegetable prices have risen over five percent.

     “I urge my colleagues in the Senate to develop a better, bipartisan farm bill - one that provides real relief to farmers crushed by falling incomes and rising costs, restores food assistance protections for millions of vulnerable Americans, invests in our rural communities, and is worthy of the American people’s trust.”