OMAHA (DTN) -- Farmers are among the biggest winners in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" that is now headed to President Donald Trump's desk after the House passed the bill on Thursday.

After years of facing a declining safety net under the 2018 farm bill, the budget reconciliation package adds as much as $68.3 billion in spending for farmer programs over 10 years.

The House voted 218-214 with two Republicans joining Democrats against the bill. The House vote came after conservatives spent Wednesday in a standoff over the bill, delaying procedural votes into early Thursday morning.

Final passage marks a major victory for Trump and his agenda, despite a bruising battle in Congress that included Senate leaders cutting late-stage deals for certain states and industries.

Trump will start a victory tour Thursday night in Des Moines where he is set to address a crowd at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on the eve of Independence Day.

On the House floor, Republicans touted the package's historic tax cuts while Democrats denounced the combination of deep spending cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), arguing the bill favors corporations and billionaires at the expense of lower-income families.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on the House floor Thursday, began speaking near 5 a.m. and spoke for more than eight hours against the bill. He called the bill "an unprecedented assault on the American people." He noted the Louisiana State Legislature, which has a GOP supermajority, had voted to oppose the bill over cuts to Medicaid. "We're telling the truth. This big ugly bill will hurt everyday Americans across the country. Don't take our word for it. Take the Louisiana State Legislature, a Republican supermajority," Jeffries said.

After Jeffries finally ended the longest floor speech in House history, House Ways & Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Missouri called Jeffries' speech "eight hours of hogwash."

Just before the vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said, "With the One Big Beautiful Bill, we are going to make the country stronger, safer and more prosperous than ever before and every American is going to benefit from that."

The $4.5 trillion in tax cuts are offset by roughly $1.2 trillion in spending cuts. The bill also adds to Defense spending and includes more funds for increased immigration enforcement. The Congressional Budget Office projects the bill will increase the national debt by $3.4 trillion over 10 years.

FARM BILL BENEFITS

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., noted on social media that Congress essentially passed a seven-year farm bill.

"That includes priorities like updating reference prices for this crop year, stronger and more affordable crop insurance, as well as updates to the sugar program and improvements to livestock disaster programs. These are the core pieces of the farm bill and vital to farm country," Hoeven stated on X.

The bill raises reference prices under the Prices Loss Coverage program (PLC) and the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) program. For the current crop year, the Senate bill has language that USDA will provide producers with the higher calculated payment rate for ARC or PLC.

Some commodities will benefit more than others. Crops with the largest acreage -- corn, wheat and soybeans -- would see fewer per-acre gains under the bill than farmers who have base acres for cotton, peanuts and rice.

Payment limits would increase from $125,000 to $155,000 for individuals and $310,000 for married couples and then the payment limit would increase based on adjustments for inflation. The bill also eliminates income caps for farmers or entities that draw at least 75% of their income from agriculture or forestry.

Addressing a long-time challenge with base acres, the bill will allow USDA to add up to 30 million new base acres tied to planting history from 2019-23. As University of Illinois' economists noted, it's likely USDA will have to come up with a prorated formula for determining eligible acres that will be added to commodity program. However, the bill does not allow producers to reallocate their current base acres.

Crop insurance programs would see about $6.3 billion in increased spending over 10 years with higher premium subsidy levels for some supplemental area-based plans and other improvements to premium support. Provisions also boost crop-insurance premium support for beginning farmers. A pilot insurance program for poultry producers also will be created.

Livestock producers will receive 100% indemnities for livestock lost to predation and 75% compensation for animals lost to weather events or disease. Indemnities also will be available for losses involving unborn livestock.

Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) is increased to cover up to 6 million pounds of milk produced.

Dealing with the push to increase agricultural trade, the bill doubles funding for USDA's trade promotion programs.

TAX CUTS IN PACKAGE

The bill includes extensions, permanent updates and additions to business-tax provisions farmers and other small businesses can use to invest in equipment, pass on their property to heirs, or buy and sell farmland under more favorable terms. Other incentives in the bill will help solidify domestic biofuel production at a time when farmers need increased domestic demand for both corn and soybeans.

While this list is not comprehensive, the bill includes:

-- A 20% deduction for qualified business income is made permanent, which includes a minimum $400 deduction for businesses with at least $1,000 in income.

-- Updated and expanded 100% bonus depreciation for equipment purchases and makes it permanent.

-- A new special depreciation allowance also was created for 100% depreciation of nonresidential property which will include manufacturing facilities built before 2031. That provision includes language implying the bonus depreciation can be applied for buildings used for agricultural and chemical production.

-- For smaller businesses, the bill also increases the Section 179 deduction to $2.5 million for any business buying $4 million or less in equipment.

-- A new provision would allow any capital gains resulting from the sale of farmland to qualified farmers to be paid in four annual installments rather than all at once. Such farmland must have been in agriculture production for the past 10 years to qualify and remain in agriculture for another 10 years after the sale occurs.

-- Rural bankers also will receive a 25% deduction on interest income from qualified rural real-estate loans. The American Bankers Association (ABA) had pressed for a larger deduction to compete with Farm Credit, but the ABA maintains the deduction on interest income should allow them to offer lower interest rates to farmers.

-- The estate-tax exemption is made permanent and increased to $15 million for individuals and $30 million for married couples starting in 2026.

-- For biofuels, the 45Z Clean Fuels Production Credit is extended and modified. The bill restricts qualifying feedstocks to the U.S., Canada and Mexico, which shuts out products such as used cooking oil from China. The Department of the Treasury would be prevented from calculating the impacts of indirect land use changes when establishing a carbon score for the credit. The bill extends the 45Z tax credit to the end of 2029 but also cuts the top rate for 45Z from $1.75 a gallon to $1 a gallon. Transportation fuels developed from animal manure would also qualify for the credit.

-- The Small Agri-Biodiesel Producer Credit also is doubled from 10 cents a gallon to 20 cents a gallon.

MEDICAID AND SNAP CUTS

Lower income people will face more difficulty qualifying for Medicaid and SNAP under the bill. Work requirements for both programs are tightened, and some costs are shifted to states.

Trying to offset some of the $1.1 trillion in projected cuts to Medicaid over 10 years, the Senate created a $50 billion fund just for rural hospitals during the next five years.

The National Rural Hospital Association said the bill "makes sweeping changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces. The group said those changes will result in significant coverage losses for rural Americans.

As if on cue, a hospital in rural Nebraska on Wednesday announced it is closing a medical clinic in Curtis, Nebraska, after 30 years. McCook Community Hospital cited the current financial environment, "driven by anticipated federal budget cuts to Medicaid, has made it impossible for us to continue operating."

The bill was projected to cut $185 billion from SNAP over 10 years, a program that spends about $123 billion a year for roughly 42 million people on the program. The Senate modified the bill to temporarily shield states with higher error rates to receive a reprieve before having to pay a share of SNAP costs. Still, most states will now have to pay a percentage of SNAP benefits starting in 2028, which could cause further cuts to benefits under programs. Groups such as leaders of food banks have said the SNAP cuts would put more pressure on charitable services when demand for food aid is already high.

Also see, "Midwest Food Banks Warn They Can't Fill Gap if SNAP is Cut in Budget Bill," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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