After a quiet start, Democrats' task force on agriculture and nutrition has picked up its activities, including hosting a roundtable in the Capitol that resembled a Democrat-only House Agriculture Committee hearing.
House Democrats are intensifying their efforts to fend off cuts to the country’s largest nutrition program. But one Democrat who would typically be leading on the issue is notably absent from their new strategy: the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee.Bennie Thompson
Democratic leaders last year rebuffed demands from within the caucus to replace Scott — who has strong ties to senior members and made history last Congress as the first-ever Black lawmaker to chair an agriculture committee. Scott’s Democratic colleagues widely expect him not to run for re-election next fall.
“At every opportunity this Congress, extreme MAGA Republicans have attempted to use vital, must-pass legislation to jam their right-wing ideology down the throats of the American people,” Stephenson said in a statement. “Their fixation on cutting nutrition and agriculture programs that keep people fed and our economy functioning is just one example.
Scott does not typically attend subcommittee hearings — an anomaly for the ranking member of a committee. He also has not traveled with the committee for out-of-town farm bill listening sessions this Congress, an important part of drafting the massive legislation. He no longer speaks with reporters in the halls of the Capitol after hearings, as he once did, and has not held a press conference this Congress to push back on Republican attacks on nutrition programs.
One senior Democrat who serves on the Agriculture Committee and was granted anonymity to speak candidly about Scott’s leadership of the committee minority, said, “It is what it is, and you see, you know.”, and the task force held its first meeting behind closed doors.
The former House Democratic aide agreed that normally, “the minority [on the] Ag Committee would hold either their own listening sessions or would be pretty actively participating in the ones that the majority is holding and leading the way on things.”The task force’s role could also prove confusing when it comes time to negotiate the farm bill.
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