Michael Conaway says House Republican leaders will strong-arm opponents out of the way of floor passage of his farm bill, which will toughen work requirements for SNAP benefits while relaxing subsidy rules. According to Conaway, no one will be allowed to offer an amendment to the bill without promising beforehand to vote for passage, prompting four key Democrats to accuse Conaway of demanding “a Trump-style loyalty pledge.”
The Democrats — Jim McGovern, Alcee Hastings, Jared Polis and Norma Torres — are the minority members of the Republican-controlled House Rules Committee, which sets the terms for floor debate on legislation. It would be “an extraordinary break with tradition” to impose “the outrageous plan” described by Conaway when parliamentary procedure views amendments as a way to perfect legislation, said the four Democrats in a letter to Rules chairman Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican like Conaway.
“Requiring members of Congress to take a Trump-style loyalty pledge just to get a chance to offer their amendments is, in a word, shocking,” said the letter. “Democrats may not even want to submit amendments to the farm bill because of the rigged, partisan process.”
Although SNAP has dominated farm bill discussion, the bill also would expand the list of family members eligible to claim subsidies and would remove payment limits on some forms of corporate farming. Fiscal hawks and reformers want to slash agricultural spending. The Heritage Foundation, for example, says Congress should eliminate crop and dairy subsidies, make farmers pay more for federally subsidized crop insurance while abolishing so-called revenue policies, get rid of import controls on food, and divide the farm bill into a food-stamp bill and an agriculture-only bill.
Five dozen organizations, from farm and sportsmans’ groups to bankers and processors, signed a letter to all House members that asked them to oppose any amendment that would limit participation in the program, raise the cost of coverage or harm the current system of coverage through the private sector.
In an interview with Farm Journal, Conaway said he was “eternally optimistic” of bipartisan debate and passage of the farm bill.
“We’ll have a [debate] rule that allows those who would be a ‘yes’ on final [passage] to suggest changes. If you’re going to be a ‘no’ on final, then you’re probably not going to get an amendment through Rules [Committee] just to make things worse,” said Conaway. The Rules Committee often spells out which amendments will be permitted, the order in which they can be offered and how much time can be spent on debating each amendment.
On SNAP, the Conaway bill would require up to 9 million “work capable” adults to work at least 20 hours a week, or spend the equivalent time in job training or workfare, in order to receive food stamps. States would be given $1 billion a year to run the training programs. Conaway says his plan will put poor Americans on the path to better-paying and higher-skilled work. Critics say it will result in state-level “sanctions machines” that disqualify people from SNAP through paperwork mazes while job training programs are under-funded.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Agri-Pulse that “early consideration of the farm bill will occur in the Senate … We’ll be in conference hopefully before the summer is out, resolving differences.” So-called conference committees of House and Senate negotiators write the final version of legislation for congressional approval. McConnell said he has asked Agriculture Committee chairman Pat Roberts to include in the farm bill a McConnell plan to legalize hemp as an agricultural crop.
To listen to “Adams on Agriculture” interview of Conaway, click here.
To listen to the “Agri-Pulse Open Mic” interview of McConnell, click here.