Sen. Mitch McConnell wasn’t at the Agriculture Committee’s markup of the farm bill Thursday, but the Kentucky Republican was casting tie-breaking votes on partisan issues.
Yet his absence is why the bill did not advance to the Senate floor.
McConnell, who hasn’t been seen in public for almost two months while on medical leave, voted “by proxy” on each amendment presented during the meeting. Committee rules allow absent senators to authorize a senator who is present at a meeting to cast a vote in addition to his or her own.
Chair John Boozman (R-Arkansas) said in his opening remarks that he spoke Wednesday night with McConnell, who approved his use of proxy votes as Boozman votes. “I know how much he would have wanted to be here to advocate for Kentucky’s farmers and rural communities,” Boozman said.
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McConnell has been on the agriculture panel from the beginning of his time in the Senate, and his proxy votes kept the bill in shape for Republicans. Democrats called for votes on numerous amendments, and all but one failed by 12-11 in favor of Republicans.
That included a Democratic-backed amendment to delay for two years when some states must start sharing costs under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the central issue holding Democrats back from supporting the farm bill in its current form. Republicans made the changes to SNAP in a 2025 reconciliation law.
Although some other senators voted by proxy while in and out of the meeting, McConnell was the only committee member to not appear during the meeting.
But Senate rules are different when it comes to a vote to advance the bill to the Senate floor, when proxy votes “cannot make the difference in successfully ordering a measure or matter reported to the Senate,” according to the Congressional Research Service.
Both McConnell and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) voted by proxy in the final vote, so the bill was not advanced to the floor. The committee is in recess and could come back later Thursday. But the outcome won’t change unless Democrats change their votes or McConnell makes a surprise appearance.
Boozman had attempted to meet Democrats halfway on SNAP, including in the latest version of the farm bill a one-year delay for states to reduce their payment error rates below 6% to avoid sharing the cost of the program. Democrats, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, the ranking member of the panel, have demanded a two-year extension.
During the markup, Klobuchar noted several times that states with the highest error rates, including Alaska, received an exception from the cost shifting to court the vote of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) during the passage of the 2025 reconciliation law.
Boozman and Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the one-year extension is the best deal they were able to provide that still maintains support from the White House and from House leadership.
Boozman told reporters after the failed vote that he expects Democrats will go back home and hear from their constituents about the importance of passing a farm bill before trying again in September.
“They’re going to be busy with their constituents in rural America, farmers and local business people. I think they’re very, very disappointed that we didn’t get something done,” Boozman said. “We’re going to come back in that first week — have another vote on the same bill again.”
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