Senate Budget Reconciliation Proposal Includes NMPF Priorities
July 3, 2025
The U.S. Senate on July 1 passed a budget reconciliation bill that largely resembles the House-passed version when it comes to critical dairy issues. The bill passed by a vote of 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie, and House Republican leaders are hoping to send the bill to President Donald Trump by July 4.
The Senate Agriculture Committee’s portion of the bill, released by Chairman John Boozman, R-AR, on June 11, includes numerous NMPF-backed requests that would strengthen dairy and farm policy, including:
- Renewing the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program through 2031; updating DMC’s production history calculation to be based on the highest production year of 2021, 2022, or 2023; and extending the ability for producers to receive a 25% premium discount for locking in their coverage for the duration of the bill;
- Providing mandatory funding for USDA to conduct mandatory dairy processing cost surveys every two years to provide better data to inform future make allowance conversations;
- Folding remaining Inflation Reduction Act conservation dollars into the farm bill baseline, resulting in increased long-term funding for popular, oversubscribed programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program;
- Providing new trade promotion funding based on current programs that return well over $20 in export revenue for every dollar invested in the programs; and
- Increasing funding for animal health programs that help to prevent, control, and eradicate animal diseases, such as the outbreak of H5N1 in dairy cattle.
“Dairy farmers are grateful to Chairman John Boozman and his committee for putting forward legislation that will create several key opportunities for dairy,” said Gregg Doud, NMPF president and CEO in a statement. “Following last month’s successful vote in the House, we are excited that this legislation positions these investments strongly in the Senate to benefit dairy farmers and the cooperatives they own. We hope they are enacted into law as swiftly as possible.”
The Senate Finance Committee’s portion of the bill, released on June 16, makes permanent the Section 199A tax deduction, enabling dairy farmer-owned cooperatives to continue either passing the deduction back to their farmer owners or reinvesting it in their cooperatives.
NMPF will continue to work with House and Senate committee leaders and other members to maintain these provisions in the final version of the bill that eventually reaches President Trump’s desk.
