What will be Elon Musk's DOGE legacy?

Leaving farmers and ag workers in total confusion.

You and I know that you can't run a country on three-month-long budgets. So while Republicans in Congress waffle, trying to meet the impossible task of allocating zero dollars for anything and still run a country at the same time, it's farmers and families who are caught in the middle.

The Farm Bill is in a funding tug-of-war yet again. It's a critical piece of legislation that's gotten kicked down the road for the last several years, only to move forward with last-minute, piecemeal extensions that leave farmers with little security and even less ability to plan for the future.

The health of small-town communities is inexplicably tied to the Farm Bill, but there isn't a single person in the U.S. – urban, rural, or otherwise – who is not affected by what's inside the Farm Bill. It's the funding mechanism for the SNAP food assistance program, and it provides resources for forestry management, forest fire prevention, conservation, flood prevention, and more.

For rural communities, it's integral to development needs and farm revenues. The Farm Bill can make or break small and family farms.

And thanks to Elon Musk's DOGE gang, farmers and ranchers have never experienced so much government-imposed insecurity and confusion as they're facing right now.

Congress must get serious, work together to develop agricultural and nutritional policy that allows everyone to be supported and prosper, and deliver a new five-year Farm Bill to rural America.

In order to do this, we need members of Congress in office who prioritize keeping their funding commitments, supporting farmers and ranchers, and easing burdens on working-class families in rural and small-town communities.

It's simple math: fund the Farm Bill and strengthen farmers and families for decades to come.

In the next few weeks, we'll see which members of Congress have our backs and which don't.

We'll keep you updated.

Heidi

Heidi Heitkamp, Former U.S. Senator for North Dakota
Founder, One Country Project