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Senate narrowly passes Trump’s megabill... The Senate narrowly approved President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill, concluding a marathon 26-hour voting session marked by intense negotiations and political drama. The final tally was 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance casting the decisive tie-breaking vote after three Republican senators — Susan Collins (Maine), Thom Tillis (N.C.), and Rand Paul (Ky.) — joined all Democrats in opposing the measure.
The legislation passed the Senate using budget reconciliation, a maneuver that bypasses the Senate filibuster but limits the bill to provisions directly tied to federal spending. This forced GOP leaders to drop several priorities to comply with Senate rules.
Key provisions:
- Tax cuts: The core of the bill is a multi-trillion-dollar extension of 2017 tax cuts, including temporary exemptions from taxes on overtime and tips. Introduces tax credits: $1,000 per child in “MAGA savings,” increases child tax credit through 2028.
- Medicaid reform: Both House and Senate bills tighten Medicaid eligibility, with the Senate expanding work requirements to more parents and limiting the use of “provider taxes” that states have used to draw extra federal funds. To appease concerns about rural hospital closures, the Senate added a new $50 billion fund for rural hospitals, starting in 2026.
- SNAP reform: SNAP, which aids over 40 million Americans, faces several reforms.
- Farm program updates: Increases reference prices and includes positive changes to crop insurance. Senate Ag Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) issued a statement saying: “Passage of this legislation is critical to delivering the promises made to the American people by President Trump. We make commonsense reforms to SNAP to ensure the program operates efficiently, is accountable to the taxpayers, and helps those who truly need it. There is also good news for hardworking farmers, ranchers, and producers who, for too long, were forced to operate under outdated policies. Our investments in farm country will support the long-term success of family farms and America’s agriculture industry, providing desperately needed and improved risk management tools, as well as a modernized farm safety net.”
- Border security: Billions of dollars are directed to border enforcement, including $140 billion for wall, deportations and hiring border patrol.
- Boosts defense outlays by $150 billion for drones, missile defense and naval expansion.
- Student loans: The package overhauls the federal student loan program.
- Some clean energy rollbacks: It ends the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit and seeks to roll back other clean energy incentives from the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The Senate’s tax bill includes a shorter extension of the 45Z clean fuel credit (2039) compared to the House version (2031) and retains similar limits on foreign biofuel feedstocks, a move backed by U.S. farm groups. Notably, the Senate measure eliminates the special $1.75 per gallon subsidy for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), lowering the credit to $1 per gallon — the same rate provided to other renewable road fuels. The Senate language adds a series of compliance measures aimed at tightening eligibility, closing loopholes and limiting foreign influence over the sector. New language clarifies that producers cannot claim the credit for fuel that has already received a credit under another section, with the Treasury Secretary directed to issue further regulations to enforce this anti-double-dipping provision. The Secretary of the Treasury gains authority to establish further rules regarding sales to “related persons,” aiming to prevent taxpayers from routing fuel sales through affiliates to improperly claim credits intended for unrelated party transactions. The bill amends existing statutes to prevent the stacking of credits for the same gallon of SAF under both Section 45Z and Section 6426(k). The definition of SAF is clarified to exclude any portion of fuel derived from kerosene, palm fatty acid distillates, or petroleum. The special rate for SAF under 45Z is eliminated for fuel produced after Dec. 31, 2025, and the standalone Section 6426(k) credit for SAF sunsets after Sept. 30, 2025. The small agri-biodiesel producer credit is doubled from 10 to 20 cents per gallon. Producers can now claim both the small producer credit and the 45Z credit for the same fuel. The eligibility window for the small agri-biodiesel producer credit is extended for two years, through the end of 2026, and the credit may be transferred under new rules.
- SALT: The bill’s changes to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction — a key issue for lawmakers from high-tax states — raise the cap for married couples to $40,000 but only through 2028.
- Debt ceiling: The House bill would raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion, while the Senate bill opts for $5 trillion, amid warnings from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about the risk of default by August without action.
Passage in the House remains uncertain as Republican leaders try to bridge deep divides within their ranks, with Trump’s political capital again proving crucial. The House Rules Committee is expected to meet today to begin to prepare the bill for floor consideration. The full House is expected back in Washington Wednesday morning, giving the chamber two days to pass the package before the GOP’s self-imposed July 4 deadline. The first procedural vote is expected Wednesday morning at 9 am ET.
The bill faces a difficult path as House and Senate Republicans must agree on a unified version. A formal House/Senate conference will not occur. More likely is what is called a wraparound amendment, streamlining the debate and voting process, since only the amendment (the new text) is considered, not individual changes to each line of the original bill. This means some changes, perhaps major, could still find their way into the final language.
Farm bill showdown averted: Grassley tables amendment on farmer payment limits... Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) withdrew his push for a Senate vote on a contentious amendment to tighten income limits and eligibility criteria for federal farm subsidies, temporarily defusing a major flashpoint in this year’s farm bill debate. The move follows intense negotiations and lobbying over the weekend, resulting in a private agreement between Grassley and Senate Ag Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.). The deal commits to revisiting Grassley’s priorities — such as stricter income caps and a narrower definition of “actively engaged” farmers — through separate legislation or a potential “skinny” farm bill package later in the year.
Grassley’s proposal would have required subsidy recipients to personally perform at least 25% of the total management hours on a farming operation, or 500 hours annually, to qualify for payments. The amendment also aimed to cap federal payments to a single recipient per operation, eliminating loopholes that allow multiple individuals — including absentee owners and non-farming relatives — to each claim up to $125,000 per year. Supporters, including the National Farmers Union and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, argued the reforms would focus aid on working farmers and save taxpayers roughly $5 billion.
Opposition was fierce, however, from nearly 50 major farm groups as well as several conservation organizations. Critics argued the amendment would undo progress made in the broader One Big Beautiful Bill Act, limit disaster aid and make conservation program access more difficult for full-time producers.
The episode highlighted ongoing divisions among Senate Republicans over the $67 billion farm bill via reconciliation and the direction of U.S. farm policy. Although Grassley’s amendment is off the table for now, debate over payment caps and eligibility is expected to return in future legislative talks.
Soybean crush rises less than expected in May... U.S. processors crushed 203.7 million bu. of soybeans in May, up 1.3 million bu. (0.6%) from April and 12.1 million bu. (6.3%) more than last year. Analysts expected soybean crush to total 204.9 million bushels.
Through the first nine months of 2024-25, soybean crush totaled 1.844 billion bu., up 5.9% from the same period last year. To hit USDA’s target of 2.420 billion bu., crush must run 5.8% above last year’s pace over the final three months of the marketing year.
Corn-for-ethanol use stronger than expected in May... Corn-for-ethanol use totaled 449.4 million bu. in May, up 26.2 million bu. (6.2%) from April but 10.6 million bu. (2.3%) less than last year. Analysts expected corn-for-ethanol use of 447.4 million bushels.
Through the first nine months of 2024-25, corn-for-ethanol use totaled 4.080 billion bu., up 0.3% from the same period last year. To reach USDA’s forecast of 5.500 billion bu., ethanol use must run 0.7% above year-ago for the final three months of the marketing year.
Labor Dept. moves to roll back Biden’s H-2A farmworker protections... The Department of Labor (DOL) announced plans to rescind major elements of a 2024 Biden administration rule that expanded protections for migrant farmworkers under the H-2A visa program, which authorizes U.S. employers to hire temporary foreign agricultural laborers. Unveiled on June 30, the proposal would eliminate requirements for increased wage transparency and worker organizing rights, reversing safeguards introduced to protect H-2A workers from employer retaliation and exploitation.
The Biden-era regulation sought to address gaps in federal labor law — particularly the exclusion of farmworkers from the National Labor Relations Act — by introducing new protections against retaliation and wage abuse for H-2A workers. However, the Trump administration criticized the rule as unnecessarily burdensome, asserting that it increased compliance costs and discouraged participation in the H-2A program, potentially driving more employers toward undocumented labor.
Earlier in June, the Trump administration suspended enforcement of the Biden rule nationwide, citing ongoing legal challenges and a patchwork of federal court injunctions that created uncertainty for agricultural employers. DOL’s new proposal would revert the calculation of the adverse effect wage rate (AEWR) — the minimum wage for H-2A jobs — to its pre-2024 methodology, a shift supported by many Republicans and farm groups who contend that the Biden changes inflated labor costs. A 60-day public comment period on the proposed rollback is now open, with the department aiming to finalize the rule by year’s end. Simultaneously, the Trump administration is pursuing broader reforms to the H-2A program, focused on streamlining the application process and reducing paperwork to help stabilize the agricultural workforce amid recent labor shortages linked to stepped-up immigration enforcement.
DOL’s move highlights a deepening policy divide between strengthening farmworker protections and easing regulatory burdens for agricultural employers, marking a significant shift in the federal government’s approach to H-2A labor oversight.
USDA rolls back environmental rules in major NEPA overhaul... USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins unveiled a sweeping plan to revise and consolidate USDA’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, aiming to dramatically cut regulatory burdens and speed up rural economic development. The new policy rescinds seven separate agency-specific NEPA regulations, replacing them with a single, department-wide framework — reducing the total regulatory volume by 66%. According to Rollins, the changes will streamline project approvals for ranchers, farmers, loggers, and rural communities, addressing years of costly delays due to lengthy environmental reviews.
The reform maintains environmental review requirements but seeks to ensure the process is both efficient and reasonable. This regulatory shift comes in response to President Trump’s executive order on Unleashing American Energy, which led the Council on Environmental Quality to rescind its own NEPA rules, clearing the path for the USDA’s overhaul.
A pre-publication version of USDA’s interim final rule will be released ahead of its official publication in the Federal Register.