The omnibus Farm Bill has a lot of proverbial eggs in its basket. (Photo by Autumn Mott Rodeheaver, Unsplash) |
"Congress often misses its Farm Bill deadlines, sometimes by a year or more, despite early vows to move with due speed and complete work on time," notes AgInsider of the Food and Environment Reporting Network. The last two bills have been delayed by Republican efforts to expand work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. This year's Farm Bill looks to be another battleground for SNAP, among other items. Abbott reports, "The 2023 Farm Bill is expected to be the most expensive ever, with chapters on commodity subsidies, SNAP, ag research, rural development, crop insurance, food aid, export promotion, farm credit, forestry, and land stewardship. Conservative Republicans are expected to propose limits on access to SNAP."
"The chairwoman, Debbie Stabenow, is continuing to work toward a bipartisan bill that can be signed into law by the end of the year," a Senate Agriculture Committee spokesman told Abbott, who notes, "Several farm-state lawmakers have used similar language, framing the goal as presidential enactment this year rather than by Sept. 30, when provisions of the 2018 law begin to expire. Dairy would be the first commodity to be affected, on Jan. 1."
Congress is working on this year's federal budget, which is supposed to start Oct. 1, and "The Farm Bill would take secondary importance," Abbott writes. Neither the House nor Senate have presented their "first-round Farm Bill draft. . . .Thompson said he would unveil his version of the bill and seek a committee vote when GOP House leaders reserve a week for floor debate of the legislation." Thompson told Abbott: “The whole sequence is driven when leadership gives me a week, and maybe that will be in September. Maybe it won’t. I don’t know.”
No comments:
Post a Comment