Save Our Food and Farms
Will Congress back MAHA or Big Ag?
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Will Congress back MAHA or Big Ag?

BySave Our Food and Farms

From our partners at Farm Action:

MAHA points toward real solutions, but unless Congress acts on seven key reforms, the food system will remain rigged for illness and corporate control.

Source: https://farmactionfund.us/2025/08/06/does-congress-have-mahas-back/

Does Congress Have MAHA’s Back?

  • August 6, 2025

The MAHA Commission is developing a national strategy to end America’s chronic disease crisis. We are pleased that Washington is saying out loud what so many Americans have long known: our hyper-consolidated food system is fueling an epidemic of preventable illness.

From rising rates of diabetes and heart disease to entire communities cut off from fresh food, the cost of our corporate-controlled food system is measured in lives and livelihoods. The administration has a key role to play in addressing this crisis—and has already taken important steps by launching the MAHA initiative. But to build a food system that truly protects public health, Congress must also act.

Some Lawmakers Are Undermining MAHA’s Mission

Unfortunately, some lawmakers are already taking actions that fly in the face of the MAHA mission:

  • The recently passed “Big Beautiful Bill” expands subsidies for the largest farms growing industrial commodity crops—rewarding the top 1% while small farms growing nutritious food for their communities are left behind.
  • The House Appropriations Committee advanced a bill shielding pesticide companies from liability—putting chemical giants over public health.
  • House Ag Committee leaders held a Prop 12 hearing without a single independent farmer at the table. Chair GT Thompson is pushing to overturn the law—a key market for independent hog farmers—in favor of global meatpackers.

These attacks are being led by Republican lawmakers aligned with the interests of multinational agribusiness—not the people or farmers MAHA is supposed to serve.

A Political Opportunity—If Congress Chooses to Act

Here’s the deeper truth: the MAHA Commission’s food system goals aren’t new. They reflect core priorities that some Democrats in Congress have championed for decades—like food as medicine, antitrust enforcement, and regenerative agriculture. But now that these ideas are gaining traction under the MAHA banner, some Democrats are pulling back. That’s a mistake.

Meanwhile, House Republican agriculture leaders appear to be abandoning their newly found MAHA base of support. This leaves a strategic opening.

Democrats have a real opportunity here: they can reclaim these ideas, help shape their implementation, and deliver the food and public health reforms their constituents have long demanded—while gaining a new base of support from the MAHA movement. But only if they show up. Republicans also have a real responsibility: to deliver on the Trump campaign’s commitments to this new MAHA-aligned constituency—or risk losing them. If they course-correct and govern accordingly, they can maintain this base and help secure their congressional majority.

If both Republicans and Democrats acted accordingly, the real winner would be the American people.

The 7 Reforms Congress Can’t Ignore

1. Protect Public Rights and Local Control

Congress must oppose any legislation that shields pesticide manufacturers from liability or strips state and local governments of their right to enact stronger food and farming standards.

  • Support the Pesticide Injury Accountability Act to restore the rights of individuals harmed by pesticide exposure, and oppose any efforts to shield pesticide manufacturers from immunity.
  • Oppose the Food Security and Farm Protection Act and the Save Our Bacon Act (formerly the EATS Act), which would override local MAHA laws and undermine public health protections.

2. Support Healthy Food Access and Local Producers

Expand programs like the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) and other purchasing programs that help families access fresh, nutritious food and create strong markets for local farmers.

  • Support the GusNIP Improvement Act to strengthen this vital tool for health and economic resilience.
  • Support the Strengthening Local Food Security Act, a bipartisan bill that expands nutrition incentives and creates a new Local Food Security Access Program—helping underserved communities access healthy food while supporting local farms and food food businesses. 

3. Reform EQIP to Prioritize Public Health and Family Farmers

Modernize the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) so that it supports conservation practices and family farmers—not industrial agriculture.

  • Support the EQIP Improvement Act to broaden access for more diversified agriculture and ensure the program prioritizes proven, pollutant-reducing practices by limiting subsidies to large industrial operations.

4. Modernize Crop Insurance for Regenerative and Specialty Crop Farmers

Current crop insurance programs leave out the very farmers we need most.

  • Support reforms to Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) and Noninsured Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) to make them work for small-scale, regenerative, and specialty crop producers.
  • Back the Save Our Small Farms Act and the Assisting Family Farmers through Insurance Reform Measures Act to expand access and limit wasteful subsidies.

5. Restore and Enforce Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL)

Bring back mandatory COOL for beef and pork so that consumers know where their food comes from and U.S. producers aren’t undercut by imports.


6. Reform Commodity Checkoff Programs

Checkoff programs were meant to support farmers, but today they fund marketing for ultra-processed foods and help corporate agribusiness lobby against transparency, labeling, and public health reforms. From cheese-stuffed pizzas to sugary coffee drinks, checkoff dollars have been used to promote products that directly undermine MAHA’s mission while failing to support farmers.


7. Expand Public Seed Development and Protect Seed Access

Counter consolidation in the seed and pesticide sectors by investing in public innovation.

  • Support the policies contained within the Seeds and Breeds for the Future Act to strengthen public plant breeding and protect farmer seed rights.

The Bottom Line

The MAHA Commission can shine a spotlight on the crisis, and the administration has already taken meaningful steps. But Congress must do its part to deliver the reforms needed to solve it. If lawmakers are serious about ending chronic disease, this is their chance to prove it.

Does Congress Have MAHA’s Back? We’re watching. Want to see real action on MAHA? Share this agenda and call on your representatives to get behind it.

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