Ag Policy Blog

House GOP Now Splitting the Farm Bill

Chris Clayton
By  Chris Clayton , DTN Ag Policy Editor
Connect with Chris:
@ChrisClaytonDTN

CQ Roll Call reported today that House leaders are going to move ahead with the plan of culling away the food stamps from the rest of the farm bill and try to simply pass the agriculture portions of the legislation.

The farm portions of the farm bill will be sent to the House Rules Committee sometime today with plans for the Rules Committee to discuss the floor debate. Roll Call quoted House Ag Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., saying he is going along with the strategy.

“I’m willing to do what it takes to get a farm bill done,” Lucas said as he exited a Republican Conference meeting Tuesday morning. “If that means doing it unconventionally, maybe we got to give it a try.”

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While conservative groups have driven the train to split the bill, Heritage Action, an arm of the Heritage Foundation, said that wasn't good enough. The group issued a statement immediately after news broke about the GOP move.

“The purpose of ending the unholy alliance that has dominated the food stamp and farm bill for decades is to allow substantive debate that would allow the House to show its conservative values," said Heritage Action CEO Michael Needham in a news release. "Unfortunately, this is nothing more than a naked attempt to get to a conference committee with the Senate. The end result of such a conference would be a perpetuation of subsidies and government intervention that will continue to harm consumers and taxpayers alike.”

House Ag Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., is reportedly criticizing the new GOP move, saying it means virtually no Democrats will back the bill.

The CQ Roll Call article: http://blogs.rollcall.com/…

I can be found on Twitter @ChrisClaytonDTN.

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Comments

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Bill Billson
7/10/2013 | 1:58 PM CDT
Its funny how farmers rip on the SNAP welfare deadbeats and now are begging to be included with that group so their gravy train can continue. This is sad. We farmers should be ashamed of begging for welfare handouts when our net worths average over a million bucks! If the general public only knew the wasteful goverment spening we recieve each year they would have us on trial. If they pass the farm bill again I will continue to buy more collector cars andVegas trips on the taxpayers dime if the polititions are too corrupt or stupid to end this FLEECING OF AMERICA.
Bonnie Dukowitz
7/10/2013 | 5:50 AM CDT
Food Bill! How can something that does not exist be split? Taking the production portion out of the Food Bill will not save anything. Placing the producers at a higher risk will create jeopardy in the food supply, which will cause higher food cost. All the rhetoric of SNAP and Crop Insurance and nothing is said of the Job and Developement share of the Bill. Will that disappear? Will the Urbanite lawmakers allow the Job portion to exist without loading it with more pork for their districts? This will be a mess comparable to Obummer Care. Leave the Food and Job Security Act where it is at and remove it from the entitlement classification and return to a supplement program to guarantee an adequate food supply for the American public.
Jay Mcginnis
7/10/2013 | 5:42 AM CDT
GOP, party of hate and greed, continue oil subsidies, increase military spending, starve the poor and helpless!
bob corio
7/9/2013 | 8:22 PM CDT
No farm bill no need for FSA and no need for USDA. Think of the money it will save. Now if we can get rid of food stamps and let the charities fill in the gap. No need for government passing out food. ANd this means no food for overseas also!! Time to take care of us.
John Olson
7/9/2013 | 6:49 PM CDT
Government safety nets that promote the elimination of smaller farms and the establishment of a small number of extremely large farms increase the probability of crops not being planted and harvested in times of adverse weather conditions. Furthermore, these schemes that promote the rapid depopulation of rural America remove from the rural population large numbers of individuals with the skills needed to plant and harvest crops in a timely manner and increase the vulnerability of the nation in times of adverse weather conditions. Reasonable safety would give all farmers a fair and equal opportunity of competing in the ag business as well as not driving up the costs of producing food.
Shelli Grover
7/9/2013 | 2:35 PM CDT
Encourage your congress and senate representatives to PLEASE OPPOSE separating the Farm Bill from Nutrition and, PLEASE OPPOSE repeal of the initial 1938 etc permanent farm bill law. Without permanent law, there is no incentive to complete a Farm Bill in the future. Those who oppose a safety net for farmers and ranchers will know that if they simply let the current Farm Bill expire, farmers will be left with no safety net. Farmers and ranchers need a safety net â?� especially since most of the remainder of the developed world supports their farmers and ranchers at much higher levels than do we. Without an adequate safety net, we are asking our producers to compete against producers around the world AND their governments. Other countries understand the importance of food security to ALL CITIZENS. The U.S. should not become complacent in this regard.