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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Saturday, August 17, 2024
Republicans pushed a farm bill through the House Agriculture Committee on a party-line vote Wednesday after angry Democrats variously criticized the legislation’s food stamp reforms as unjustified, unworkable and unfair to the poor.
Republicans expect to advance a farm bill in the House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday despite Democratic anger over its reforms to food stamps, but the legislation also would make significant changes in policy and funding across many other sections, including conservation, rural development and horticulture.
House Republicans prepare to force their new farm bill through the Agriculture Committee this week in what is likely to be a bitter but potentially brief debate, setting up a likely showdown on the House floor in May.
The House Agriculture Committee’s proposed farm bill provides a mix of new restrictions and incentives in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that Republicans say would give beneficiaries’ new dignity by helping them find work or better-paying employment.
House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway kicked off a battle over the next farm bill by releasing draft legislation that offers producers improvements to major commodity programs at minimal cost, while overhauling conservation policy and making sweeping reforms to nutrition assistance.
The House Agriculture Committee is preparing to debate a Republican farm bill as early as next week, but the legislation’s future on the House floor remains up in the air as Democrats show no signs of backing off their opposition
Whether we get a farm bill this year or after the mid-term elections, I think it’s important to look at some of the ideas under consideration, especially regarding the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
The Trump administration seeks to calm farmers’ fears about the escalating trade dispute with China, even as corn and soybean growers hope the crisis will at least end the White House’s consideration of intervening in the biofuel credit market.
A Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Jim McGovern, drew cheers at a meeting of anti-hunger activists in February when he called for stopping the farm bill if it’s unfair to nutrition assistance programs.
A partisan impasse on the House Agriculture Committee is making it more likely by the day that Congress won’t pass a new farm bill this year, forcing lawmakers to eventually pass a short-term extension of the 2014 law, say veterans of past farm bill battles.
