Farm Bill

As the work of the Farm Bill conference committee progresses, two issues, SNAP and conservation, have been singled out as key to the committee’s success.  Today’s update looks briefly at recent news items that contain lawmaker perspective on these two issues.

A news release on Wednesday from the House Ag Committee stated that, “Today, the House of Representatives moved to send the 2018 Farm Bill to conference committee. Following the vote, Speaker Paul Ryan (WI-1) named the House conferees, or members who will seek to resolve the differences between the two chambers’ bills.”

Washington Post writers Caitlin Dewey and Erica Werner reported on Thursday that, “The Senate passed its version of the $428 billion farm bill Thursday, setting up a bitter fight against the House over food stamps, farm subsidies and conservation funding.”

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R., Tex.) was a guest on Friday’s “Adams on Agriculture” radio program with Mike Adams.  After failing to pass on the House floor last month, the measure succeeded on Thursday by a narrow 213-211 margin. Chairman Conaway discussed Farm Bill issues going forward in anticipation of the Senate passing its version of the Bill, and the subsequent formation of a conference committee.

Wall Street Journal writers Jesse Newman, Heather Haddon and Siobhan Hughes reported on Thursday that, “The House on Thursday narrowly passed a Republican-written bill that reauthorizes farm programs while also imposing controversial new work requirements on food-stamp recipients, acting on legislation that is important to a critical GOP constituency before the midterm elections. The bill passed on a 213-211 vote.”

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS) released a timely report regarding farm policy titled, “Federal Risk Management Tools for Agricultural Producers: An Overview.”  Today’s post recaps highlights from the ERS report.

Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor reported on Wednesday that, “A Senate panel approved a modest, bipartisan rewrite of federal farm and nutrition programs on Wednesday, sidestepping a fight for now but setting up a clash with House Republicans intent on beefing up work requirements for food stamps.”

DTN Ag Policy Editor Chris Clayton reported on Friday that, “The farm bill that will be taken up by the Senate Agriculture Committee next week will look a lot like the current farm bill with some tweaks to commodity and conservation programs, but no radical changes from current law.”

Earlier this month, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report titled, “Federal Crop Insurance: Program Overview for the 115th Congress.”  Today’s update focuses on key highlights from the CRS report.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R., Tex.) was a guest on Wednesday’s “Adams on Agriculture” radio program with Mike Adams.  After failing to pass on the House floor Friday due to a tussle over immigration, Chairman Conaway discussed Farm Bill issues going forward in anticipation of the House voting again on the measure.

Siobhan Hughes and Jesse Newman reported on the front page of Saturday’s Wall Street Journal that, “The House defeated a Republican-written farm bill on Friday after GOP leaders couldn’t win over a bloc of their party’s most conservative lawmakers, who were demanding a separate vote soon on a measure to toughen immigration enforcement.”

House Ag Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D., Minn.) was a guest on Wednesday’s “Adams on Agriculture” radio show with Mike Adams.  Rep. Peterson provided his perspective on the status of Farm Bill legislation that was approved by the Committee last month.

House Ag Committee Chairman Mike Conaway was a guest on Thursday’s “Adams on Agriculture” radio show with Mike Adams.  The Texas Republican provided his perspective on the status of Farm Bill legislation that was approved by the Committee earlier this month.

On Wednesday, the House Ag Committee passed the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (H.R.2) on a partisan 26-20 vote.  Democrat Members of the Committee expressed frustration over the bill, while Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R., Tex.) noted that, “I’m disappointed that my Democrat colleagues have turned their backs on America’s heartland – that they’ve chosen partisan politics over the three years of bipartisan work in this committee. Democrats halted talks over their objection to requiring work-capable adults to either find employment or receive free training for 20 hours per week. Yet, despite this turn of events, I remain hopeful.”

On Thursday, the House Agriculture Committee released its draft of the Farm Bill.  As expected, the nutrition title of the measure, which includes the SNAP program (food stamps) has garnered the most attention.

Kristina Peterson reported on Sunday at The Wall Street Journal Online that, “House Speaker Paul Ryan’s long-sought goal of overhauling welfare programs will get a kick-start when Congress returns to Washington this week, as Republicans prepare to release a new, five-year farm bill that would impose tougher work requirements to get food stamps.

On Wednesday, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R., Tex.) was a guest on the Adams on Agriculture radio program where he discussed the Farm Bill and SNAP issues with host Mike Adams.  An audio replay of their discussion can be heard here (MP3- 8:00 minutes), and a transcript of the program is available here.

On Saturday, House Ag Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R., Tex.) delivered a speech to the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers at their 2018 Convention in Ft Worth.  And on Monday, House Ag Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D., Minn.) was a guest on the Adams on Agriculture radio program.  In their respective remarks, both lawmakers discussed Farm Bill issues and the SNAP program.  Today’s update includes a summary of the key points made by the top lawmakers on the House Ag Committee.

An article at Politico on Thursday indicated that bipartisan negotiations over the Farm Bill had stalled due to issues surrounding the nutrition title of the new measure.  More specifically, the Politico article stated that, “Democrats are revolting to potential changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, still commonly known as food stamps.”  Also on Thursday, USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) released a detailed annual report that explored fiscal year 2017 federal data related to USDA nutrition programs, including SNAP.  Today’s update looks at this ERS report in more detail, and also touches briefly on a SNAP related report released last week by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.