"The long-tortured farm bill cleared Congress on Tuesday, ending a two year struggle that split the old farm-food coalition as never before and dramatized the growing isolation of agriculture and rural America in an ever more urban House," which reflects the nation's population, reports David Rogers of Politico. "The bill represents a landmark rewrite of commodity programs coupled with what proved in the end to be bipartisan reforms in the food-stamp program."
The Senate passed the bill on a vote of 68 to 32, sending it to President Obama, who will sign it. He said it “isn't perfect” will add “certainty” for farmers and ranchers and has “a variety of commonsense reforms that my administration has consistently called for.” Rogers notes that Senate Republicans split 23-22, as their leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, "jumped on board the Farm Bill at the end because of a hemp provision important to Kentucky farmers — and his reelection — back home."
The five-year, $956 billion bill is expected to slightly reduce spending on farm programs and is supported by most agricultural lobbies. "Critics on the right and the left say that such an outpouring of endorsements shows that the farm bill is filled with government spending, but it also shows the importance of the farm bill—and the activities of the Agriculture Department—in every corner of the country," Jerry Hagstrom writes for National Journal.
In a succinct analysis, Hagstrom notes, "A wide range of conservation groups praised the bill for requiring farmers who get subsidized crop insurance to comply with federal conservation standards." Rogers notes that the bill's "single biggest decision is to end the nearly 18-year-old system of direct cash payments to farmers, which cost more than $4.5 billion annually and go out at a fixed rate — whatever a farmer’s profits or even if he hasn’t planted crops."
The Senate passed the bill on a vote of 68 to 32, sending it to President Obama, who will sign it. He said it “isn't perfect” will add “certainty” for farmers and ranchers and has “a variety of commonsense reforms that my administration has consistently called for.” Rogers notes that Senate Republicans split 23-22, as their leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, "jumped on board the Farm Bill at the end because of a hemp provision important to Kentucky farmers — and his reelection — back home."
The five-year, $956 billion bill is expected to slightly reduce spending on farm programs and is supported by most agricultural lobbies. "Critics on the right and the left say that such an outpouring of endorsements shows that the farm bill is filled with government spending, but it also shows the importance of the farm bill—and the activities of the Agriculture Department—in every corner of the country," Jerry Hagstrom writes for National Journal.
In a succinct analysis, Hagstrom notes, "A wide range of conservation groups praised the bill for requiring farmers who get subsidized crop insurance to comply with federal conservation standards." Rogers notes that the bill's "single biggest decision is to end the nearly 18-year-old system of direct cash payments to farmers, which cost more than $4.5 billion annually and go out at a fixed rate — whatever a farmer’s profits or even if he hasn’t planted crops."
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