After weeks of stalemate, farm bill negotiators said they expect to pass the $87-billion-a-year legislation in the lame duck session of Congress that opens on Tuesday. The biggest obstacle, the House Republican proposal for stricter SNAP work requirements, will melt away as the GOP majority did in the midterm elections, said Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson, who is likely to become Agriculture Committee chairman in January.
“I think we are relatively close,” Peterson told reporters on Wednesday. “If people will agree to agree, we could have that language ready next week when we come back” and could hold a floor vote quickly. The “four corners,” as the lead negotiators are known, set a goal last month of agreeing on a final version of the bill in time for passage in the post-election session. While SNAP has been the most contentious issue, there have also been persistent disputes over farm subsidy limits and land stewardship spending.
“We are continuing to push full steam ahead,” said Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts, who oversees the bicameral talks. “The results of the midterm election do not change our goal to get a farm bill done this year.” The senior Democrat on Senate Agriculture, Debbie Stabenow, “is fully committed to a farm bill as soon as possible,” said an aide.
“I remain 100 percent committed to completing the farm bill this year,” said House Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway, author of the GOP proposal that would require an estimated 7 million “work-capable” adults ages 18 to 59 to work 20 hours a week or spend equivalent time in job training or workfare to qualify for food stamps. Conaway has been a dogged advocate of new work requirements, to the point of slowing negotiations.
“I get indications that is going to change,” said Peterson. House Republicans are losing leverage for their proposal, he said. A bigger problem, in Peterson’s view, is the overuse by states of waivers that exempt so-called able-bodied adults ages 18 to 49 without dependents from the usual 90-day limit on food stamp benefits in a three-year period. Food stamp recipients, other than the elderly, disabled, and children, are required to register for work and to accept a suitable job if offered one.
President Trump, for his part, blamed Senate Democrats for the deadlock over new SNAP work requirements, although opposition in the chamber has been bipartisan. “We want the work requirements in,” Trump said during a news conference on Wednesday.
With Democrats set to take control of the House, “one would expect there would be fewer attacks on school meals, child nutrition, and SNAP,” said Ellen Vollinger of the Food Research and Action Center, an anti-hunger group. “There’s a lot of support for these programs.”
Farm groups called for Congress to pass the farm bill so that temporarily mothballed programs will be available to help farmers. “With the farm bill having expired, growers are left with much uncertainty and are denied access to several beneficial programs within the bill,” the National Association of Wheat Growers said in a statement.
Peterson said he has given little thought to the Agriculture Committee agenda for 2019 while the farm bill remains on the table. The committee will conduct “oversight” hearings into the operation of USDA programs, he said, and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s decision to relocate two research agencies out of the Washington area “needs some examination.” So would ongoing complaints that producer-funded “checkoff” programs to generate money for research and promotion of farm products are dominated by big producers, he said.
The largest U.S. farm group, the American Farm Bureau Federation, said it would work with lawmakers in 2019 on resolving ag labor shortages, reducing regulatory burdens, encouraging ag exports, supporting “farm-grown fuels,” and improving rural broadband and infrastructure. The National Farmers Union, second in membership, said its goals include “stability in the trade environment, [which] seems a lot of ask of this administration,” as well as congressional action on both climate change and economic concentration in agribusiness.