Farm Bill may pass as part of year-end budget package

It seems likely that a new Farm Bill will pass by the end of the year, Harwood Schaffer and Daryll Ray of the Agricultural Policy Analysis Center at the University of Tennessee predict in their latest "Policy Pennings" column. 

The big sticking point is proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. The House version of the bill includes work requirements for some able-bodied SNAP recipients, while the Senate version doesn't. But House Agriculture Committee Chair Mike Conaway, R-Texas, may want to get a bill passed before Democrats take control of the House in January, forcing a compromise on the issue, Catherine Boudreau reports for Politico.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, also wants a bill, and predicted this week that a compromise measure could be attached to a year-end government spending deal that must pass by Dec. 7, Boudreau reports. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that passing the Farm Bill this year is a priority for him because of the Senate version's hemp-legalization provisions.