Project 2025 Tracker / What’s done, what’s next

Section 3 · The General Welfare

10 Department of Agriculture

289–318 · Daren Bakst

  • 2 done
  • 9 partially done
  • 4 attempted
  • 1 reversed
  • 33 not started

Major recommendations (8)

What has happened

The Mandate said

“Remove the U.S. from any association with U.N. and other efforts to push sustainable-development schemes connected to food production.”

What happened

Partially done

Presidential memorandum, closing the EO 14199 review, withdrew the U.S. from 66 international organizations, conventions and treaties, including several sustainable-development bodies (the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals, and Sustainable Development; the International Union for Conservation of Nature; the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). None is a food-production body: the FAO, the World Food Programme, IFAD and the Committee on World Food Security are not on the list, and no withdrawal from them was found.

The Mandate said

“Re-implement work requirements. The statutory language covering food stamps allows states to waive work requirements that otherwise apply to work-capable individuals—that is, adult beneficiaries between the ages 18 and 50 who are not disabled and do not have any children or other dependents in the home.”

What happened

Done

Section 10102 of the reconciliation act (P.L. 119-21) rewrote the SNAP time-limit exceptions in 7 U.S.C. 2015(o): the work requirement now runs to age 65 (previously 55 under the 2023 debt-ceiling law), the dependent-child exception is narrowed to children under 14, and the state waiver criterion the Mandate objects to ("lack of sufficient jobs") is struck, leaving only areas with unemployment above 10 percent, plus a temporary exemption for Alaska and Hawaii. Enacted by Congress rather than by the executive action the Mandate contemplated.

The Mandate said

“Remove the U.S. from any association with U.N. and other efforts to push sustainable-development schemes connected to food production.”

What happened

Partially done

At the U.N. General Assembly the U.S. Mission stated that "the United States rejects and denounces the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals, and it will no longer reaffirm them as a matter of course" — the U.N.'s umbrella sustainable-development framework, of which SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) is the food-production strand. A stated disassociation, not a withdrawal from any body.

The Mandate said

“Remove the U.S. from any association with U.N. and other efforts to push sustainable-development schemes connected to food production.”

What happened

Attempted

Executive Order 14199 withdrew the U.S. from the U.N. Human Rights Council and UNRWA funding, and ordered a 180-day review of every international organization, convention and treaty the U.S. supports to identify those "contrary to the interests of the United States". No food or sustainable-development body was named; the review is the directive.

The Mandate said

“Champion executive action, consistent with law, and proactive legislation to reduce wildfires. This would involve embracing Executive Order 13855, building upon it, and working with lawmakers to promote active management of vegetation, reduce regulatory obstacles to reducing fuel buildup, and increase timber sales.”

What happened

Partially done

USDA amended the objection process itself, the one the 2025-04-03 emergency determination had only suspended for listed emergency actions. The final rule on the Project-Level Predecisional Administrative Review Process (36 CFR part 218) consolidates and streamlines how the public files objections to projects implementing national forest plans, "to … increase efficiency, and better align with the Agency's statutory obligations and recent rescissions and revisions to National Environmental Policy Act regulations". It removes more of the regulatory-obstacle limb, now by rule and across the whole system. Still `partial`: the roadless rescission is still a proposal, the sales target has not been met, and nothing has been enacted on the legislative limb.

Still to come

Executive action 10

  1. 294 Stop using CCC Charter Act Section 5 discretionary spending authority Notable Reversed
  2. 300 Issue a rule clarifying state options for the SNAP general work requirement Notable Not started
  3. 301 Reform the WIC infant formula voucher and rebate bidding system Notable Not started
  4. 303 Issue a rule narrowing Community Eligibility Provision groupings Notable Not started
  5. 303 Stop USDA summer meals for students not in summer school Notable Not started
  6. 304 Strip NRCS authority to prescribe farm practices for program eligibility Notable Not started
  7. 291 Adopt a narrower, agriculture-focused USDA mission statement Minor Not started
  8. 293 Delete all USDA references to transforming the food system Minor Not started
  9. 297 Demand an open, transparent farm bill reform process Minor Not started
  10. 306 Reject any return of commodity volume controls Minor Not started

Needs Congress 24

  1. 296 Repeal the federal sugar program Major Not started
  2. 296 Repeal the ARC and PLC farm subsidy programs Major Not started
  3. 298 Move USDA food and nutrition programs to HHS Major Not started
  4. 304 Eliminate the Conservation Reserve Program Major Not started
  5. 309 Repeal the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Major Not started
  6. 310 Eliminate the Food and Nutrition Service Major Not started
  7. 290 Have Congress narrow the USDA's statutory role and mission Notable Not started
  8. 295 Repeal the Agriculture Secretary's CCC Section 5 discretionary authority Notable Not started
  9. 295 Require prior congressional approval before CCC funds are spent Notable Not started
  10. 297 Bar ARC/PLC payments in the same year as a crop insurance indemnity Notable Not started
  11. 297 Cut the federal crop insurance premium subsidy rate Notable Not started
  12. 298 Split the farm bill's agriculture provisions from its nutrition provisions Notable Not started
  13. 303 Eliminate the Community Eligibility Provision Notable Not started
  14. 303 Restore school meal programs to serving only children in need Notable Not started
  15. 305 Devolve erodible land and wetlands conservation power to the states Notable Not started

and 9 more →

All recommendations in this chapter

Every recommendation this chapter is the home of, in printed-page order.

  1. 290 Have Congress narrow the USDA's statutory role and mission Needs Congress Not started
  2. 291 Adopt a narrower, agriculture-focused USDA mission statement Not started
  3. 293 Denounce placing climate change ahead of food productivity Done
  4. 293 Withdraw the U.S. from U.N. sustainable-development food schemes Partially done
  5. 293 Issue an executive order announcing agriculture policy principles Partially done
  6. 293 Delete all USDA references to transforming the food system Not started
  7. 294 Review USDA efforts imposing preferred agricultural practices on farmers Partially done
  8. 294 Stop using CCC Charter Act Section 5 discretionary spending authority Reversed
  9. 295 Repeal the Agriculture Secretary's CCC Section 5 discretionary authority Needs Congress Not started
  10. 295 Require prior congressional approval before CCC funds are spent Needs Congress Not started
  11. 295 Limit CCC spending to genuine emergencies for farmers and ranchers Needs Congress Not started
  12. 295 Bar CCC assistance to anyone other than farmers and ranchers Needs Congress Not started
  13. 295 Restrict CCC spending to temporary, targeted problems Needs Congress Not started
  14. 295 Tighten Section 5 discretion and allow court challenges Needs Congress Not started
  15. 296 Repeal the federal sugar program Needs Congress Not started
  16. 296 Repeal the ARC and PLC farm subsidy programs Needs Congress Not started
  17. 297 Bar ARC/PLC payments in the same year as a crop insurance indemnity Needs Congress Not started
  18. 297 Cut the federal crop insurance premium subsidy rate Needs Congress Not started
  19. 297 Demand an open, transparent farm bill reform process Not started
  20. 298 Split the farm bill's agriculture provisions from its nutrition provisions Needs Congress Not started
  21. 298 Move USDA food and nutrition programs to HHS Needs Congress Not started
  22. 299 Reinstate SNAP work requirements for able-bodied adults Done
  23. 300 Issue a rule clarifying state options for the SNAP general work requirement Not started
  24. 300 Close the SNAP broad-based categorical eligibility loophole Attempted
  25. 300 Re-evaluate the Thrifty Food Plan benefit increase Partially done
  26. 301 Eliminate the SNAP heat-and-eat loophole Partially done
  27. 301 Reform the WIC infant formula voucher and rebate bidding system Not started
  28. 302 Re-evaluate baby formula labeling and manufacturing regulations Partially done
  29. 303 Issue a rule narrowing Community Eligibility Provision groupings Not started
  30. 303 Eliminate the Community Eligibility Provision Needs Congress Not started
  31. 303 Stop USDA summer meals for students not in summer school Not started
  32. 303 Restore school meal programs to serving only children in need Needs Congress Not started
  33. 304 Eliminate the Conservation Reserve Program Needs Congress Not started
  34. 304 Strip NRCS authority to prescribe farm practices for program eligibility Not started
  35. 305 Devolve erodible land and wetlands conservation power to the states Needs Congress Not started
  36. 305 Limit permanent USDA conservation easements and bar new ones Needs Congress Not started
  37. 305 Allow state-inspected meat and poultry in interstate commerce Needs Congress Attempted
  38. 306 Reject new marketing orders and checkoff programs and end existing ones Partially done
  39. 306 Reject any return of commodity volume controls Not started
  40. 306 Work with Congress to abolish marketing orders and checkoff programs Needs Congress Not started
  41. 306 Require votes at least every five years on checkoffs and marketing orders Needs Congress Not started
  42. 307 Repeal agricultural export promotion programs like the Market Access Program Needs Congress Not started
  43. 307 Remove regulatory barriers to agricultural biotechnology Attempted
  44. 307 Repeal the federal GE food labeling mandate Needs Congress Not started
  45. 307 Work with USTR to remove foreign barriers to U.S. biotech crops Partially done
  46. 308 Revive Executive Order 13855 on active forest management and timber sales Partially done
  47. 309 Repeal the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Needs Congress Not started
  48. 309 Reform the Dietary Guidelines process and codify the reforms in law Needs Congress Attempted
  49. 310 Eliminate the Food and Nutrition Service Needs Congress Not started