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Leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee have agreed to include tougher commodity program eligibility rules proposed by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in the farm bill the Senate is debating this week.

The White House criticized the Senate farm bill for not tightening work requirements for food stamp recipients and omitting regulatory reform proposals, but the administration notably stopped short of threatening a veto of the legislation.

The Senate got off to a resounding bipartisan start to its farm bill debate, voting 89-3 on a procedural motion for the legislation that would maintain the structure of the 2014 farm law while preserving a range of programs that are on the verge of running out of money and legalizing the production of industrial hemp. 

The Senate is set to debate a popular bipartisan farm bill this week that senators from both parties are eager to pass amid the uncertainty in rural America over President Donald Trump’s trade policy.

A plan announced today by the Trump administration would shift Department of Agriculture programs to different government agencies, dramatically shrinking the size and scope of the department.