Walmsley: Growing Climate Solution Act Remarkable Legislation

A bipartisan climate bill supported by several food and agriculture groups is making its way through Congress. Andrew Walmsley, director of congressional relations with the American Farm Bureau, called the Growing Climate Solutions Act a remarkable bill.

“When you look at it from a bipartisan standpoint, we have over 50 members of the Senate, that's over half the Senate, in support of S 1251, the Growing Climate Solutions Act, and what the bill does is really try to remove some technical barriers and provide transparency and information to farmers who are interested in participating in the voluntary climate market. There's so much information out there, some misinformation, and what the Growing Climate Solution Act attempts to do is to cut through that and provide certification and information to farmers through USDA.”

Walmsley said he anticipates this bill moving quickly.

"So, the Senate just passed the Growing Climate Solutions Act of 2020, with a strong bipartisan vote. This bill now heads to the House of Representatives where, hopefully, action will be taken. There’s also a companion bill, also known as the Growing Climate Solutions Act. So hopefully the House will move quickly now that the Senate passed it and soon it will hopefully be in the office of the President.”

Walmsley said the bill has unprecedented support from interested stakeholder groups and organizations.

"With over half the Senate as co-sponsors, you would expect widespread support from the larger stakeholder community. Farm Bureau supports this bill, but you've got groups like World Wildlife Fund, Nature Conservancy, a lot of the environmental groups, other ag commodity groups, so huge, bipartisan support on a commonsense bill, which is very uncommon in Washington, and that would help farmers and ranchers, navigate these emerging voluntary climate markets.”

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