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  "description": "Meanwhile, House appropriators advance spending bill with $88 million for USDA broadband efforts.",
  "path": "/internal-divisions-force-house-republicans-to-delay-farm-bill-vote/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-29T22:48:21.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "foreign intelligence surveillance law",
    "Learn more about the Broadband Community...",
    "Start Your Broadband Journey Here",
    "set to expire Thursday",
    "by a vote of 35-25",
    "spending bill"
  ],
  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, April 29, 2026 – Efforts to advance a five-year farm bill stalled in the House on Wednesday after a Republican holdout.\n\nAfter barely passing a procedural measure to bring the bill to the floor, leaders scrapped votes on the legislation and sent it back to the Rules Committee for further amendment, delaying the overdue bill which includes key rural broadband funding and deployment provisions.\n\nMajority Speaker **Mike Johnson** , R-La., told reporters the House would instead push for votes on an expiring foreign intelligence surveillance law and budget legislation to fund immigration enforcement, while party leaders work to resolve divisions within the Republican conference on the farm bill.\n\nLearn more about the Broadband Community...\n\n\n                            Start Your Broadband Journey Here\n                        \n\nSome lawmakers objected to provisions within the bill that would make permanent cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, while others raised concerns about pro-pesticide agriculture provisions. Additional pushback emerged over a proposal to allow year-round sales of E15 fuel, which some hard-line Republicans opposed.\n\n### _Measure stalled for years_\n\nThe farm bill has been stalled for years, with its previous authorization expiring in 2023 and extended multiple times.\n\nFor broadband, the legislation would reauthorize U.S. Department of Agriculture connectivity programs through 2031, setting funding authority and standards for rural broadband deployment.\n\nIt includes provisions to extend support for middle-mile infrastructure, continue Community Connect grants and establish the Innovative Broadband Advancement Program, a sandbox program to test emerging technologies.\n\nEven as they dropped the farm bill from the floor, House Republicans pointed to the narrow 216–210 vote Wednesday, which advanced a rule setting up consideration of the other two major bills, as a sign of progress.\n\nMost pressing on Johnson’s agenda was the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which the House passed Wednesday night by a vote of 235–191.\n\nThe provision allows the government to collect intelligence on the communications of foreign nationals, an authority which was set to expire Thursday. The reauthorization effort still has to clear the Senate.\n\n“No one – no one on the Republican side, anyway – wants to play around with letting these critical national security tools go unfunded or expire,” Johnson said. “I think they’ll move it expeditiously.”\n\nThe floor drama coincided with a separate but parallel development in the House Appropriations Committee, where lawmakers advanced by a vote of 35-25 a fiscal year 2027 funding bill which includes about $88.1 million for broadband efforts in the USDA.\n\nThe FY2027 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies spending bill sets next year's funding levels for several USDA broadband programs, which the stalled farm bill would extend through 2031.\n\nThat includes $33.1 million for distance learning and telemedicine grants, $40 million for the ReConnect program and $15 million for Community Connect grants. The measure also rescinds $40 million in unused ReConnect funds from prior years.\n\nLawmakers hope to bring the farm bill back to the floor in May after the chamber is set to take a weeklong recess, as divisions within the Republican conference remain unresolved.",
  "title": "Internal Divisions Force House Republicans to Delay Farm Bill Vote",
  "updatedAt": "2026-05-21T21:50:18.572Z"
}