Lawmakers go on August break with new Farm Bill looking less likely

The Farm Bill remains in limbo, and with lawmakers on break until September, a month in which there are only nine legislative days, current farm law's expiration of Sept. 30 looms ever closer. Matters will only continue to get complicated "if House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) brings a revised Farm Bill nutrition title to the floor that cuts up to $40 billion over 10 years from the nation’s largest domestic food aid program," food stamps, Ellyn Ferguson reports for Roll Call.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters, “To put their members on record as supporting $40 billion in cuts, that really makes the path back the harder one for the farm bill. Senate Agriculture Chairwoman  Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) "called the possible nutrition bill 'one more road block.' She said the possible new nutrition bill could 'put us in a situation where it’s going to make it harder to get a farm bill done,'” Ferguson reports.

Stabenow and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) "say they hope to iron out such differences between the Senate bill and the agriculture-only bill through informal talks during the August recess. The goal, they said, is to get as many issues resolved as possible by September so they’ll be ready for a likely formal conference committee," Ferguson reports.