Articles by Derrick Cain

Senate Agriculture, Forestry and Nutrition Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., urged the House Monday to begin the conference process of a five-year farm bill (H.R. 2642) with the Senate.

The House sent its five-year farm bill (H.R. 2642) Tuesday to the Senate, pushing the legislation onto the next step toward conference, according to a Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee spokesman.

Agricultural stakeholders and lawmakers will be focused intensely this week on what is next for the farm bill

The House approved, on a partisan 216-208 vote, a five-year farm bill (H.R. 2642) Thursday, which would strip the nutrition program from the rest of the farm policy legislation.

Amid growing speculation that a plan to split the nutrition title from the farm bill is falling apart, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) board voted unanimously today to reaffirm its opposition to the proposal.

Several senators questioned the proposed purchase of Smithfield Foods, the largest U.S. pork producer, by a Chinese company during a hearing on Wednesday.

The pressure will continue to build on House lawmakers this week to bring a farm bill back to the floor, while House leadership works to find a way forward on immigration reform

Enactment of the Senate-passed immigration reform bill (S. 744) would lead to an estimated net savings of about $135 billion over a 10-year period, according to a scoring analysis released today by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT).

Several lawmakers, agriculture groups, and labor groups applauded the Senate passage Thursday of comprehensive immigration reform legislation (S. 744), which seeks to provide a path to legal status for millions of undocumented people – many of whom are farm workers.

The USDA granted an inspection permit today to a New Mexico-based company paving the way for operations to begin at a horse slaughter facility – the first such facility in about seven years.