CRP Improvement and Flexibility Act of 2025
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. (text: continuing resolutionA stopgap law funding the government at existing levels when the annual appropriations bills are not done by October 1.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) S4999)
CRP Improvement and Flexibility Act of 2025
This bill increases federal assistance and incentives for eligible participants and entities in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) of the Farm Service Agency. CRP is a land conservation program that provides an annual rental payment to farmers in exchange for farmers removing environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and planting species that will improve environmental health and quality.
The bill increases the CRP annual rental payment limitation from $50,000 to $125,000.
The bill also permanently establishes a continuous enrollment procedure for land that will be enrolled under the State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement Initiative.
Additionally, the bill provides federal cost sharing payments for the establishment of grazing infrastructure on all CRP contracts and practices, if grazing is included in the conservation plan and addresses a resource concern. It also provides federal cost sharing payments under CRP for management activities to implement the conservation plan that are not related to haying or grazing.
Further, the bill allows emergency haying on CRP land during the primary nesting season in response to drought, flooding, wildfire, or other emergencies if certain conditions are met. It also modifies the conditions under which haying and grazing may be permitted on CRP land.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on July 31, 2025. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on July 31, 2025: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. (text: CR S4999)
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
John Thune (R-SD) introduced it on July 31, 2025, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 2 Democrats, 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on July 31, 2025, 406 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 406 days ago, on July 31, 2025.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers