Senate Ag Committee chairman says new Farm Bill won't likely pass before election day; current law expires Sept. 30

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, said Monday that Congress won't likely pass a new Farm Bill before the current one expires on Sept. 30, and said it will be tough to get it done before the Nov. 6 election. He also said he doesn't want to talk about extending the current bill because that would shift focus to the old bill instead of the new one, which wouldn't help the top four negotiators reach a final agreement, Ryan McCrimmon reports for Politico. 

Roberts said he and ranking committee member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., along with their House counterparts Mike Conaway, R-Texas, and Collin Peterson, D-Minn., "have found a way to reconcile differences in the commodity title, which includes programs like agriculture risk coverage and price loss coverage," McCrimmon reports. But they have yet to agree on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. The House wants work requirements for able-bodied adults participating in the program, and its bill would overturn a court ruling that allows the public to see how much SNAP revenue a retailer gets each year. Grocers had lobbied for the provision, saying such information hurts them with competitors. The Senate version does not include work requirements, McCrimmon reports.

"I think if we could get the waiver challenge behind us, working with the administration, that would be very helpful. If we do that, I think we could get ourselves to a Farm Bill," Roberts said.