House Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway has shelved plans for committee approval of the new farm bill next week in the face of Democratic opposition to his proposed cuts in the $70-billion-a-year food stamp program. The House is scheduled to take a two-week recess starting March 22, so it could be mid-April before the committee gets back to work on the bill.
“Given the progress we’re making on negotiating to a ‘yes’ from both of us, we will not mark up the farm bill next week,” said Conaway, referring to discussions with Rep. Collin Peterson, the lead Democrat on the committee. A few days ago, Peterson said negotiations were at an impasse over food stamps.
Conaway’s stated goal is bipartisan support for the farm bill, which would ease the way to full House passage of the panoramic legislation. Food stamps account for three-quarters of farm bill spending. The bill also covers crop subsidies, ag research, export promotion, food aid, crop insurance, land stewardship, and an array of other, smaller programs.
The Senate Agriculture chairman, Pat Roberts, plans to draft his committee’s version of the farm bill in April, so it is possible both committees will be at work at the same time. Like the House, the Senate is to reconvene on April 10, following a two-week spring break.
“Chairman @SenPatRoberts & Ag Committee members this week met with @USDA officials to discuss working together as we craft #FarmBill18,” said the committee on Twitter. Attached to the tweet were photos of committee members talking with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Deputy Secretary Steve Censky, and Undersecretary Bill Northey.
Conaway would cut food stamp enrollment by 20 percent and create “a job-training bureaucracy,” according to Peterson. States would have fewer opportunities to provide benefits to able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) for more than 90 days in a three-year period if the recipients do not work at least 20 hours a week, he said, and the ABAWD age range would rise to 65 years. “This has got my side all riled up,” Peterson said on the Adams on Agriculture radio program a week ago.
At the start of this week, aides to Conaway and Peterson said discussions were underway to find a compromise. One committee member, Democrat Jim McGovern, has said he would prefer no farm bill than a bill that slashes food stamps. He told anti-hunger activists last month, “I have a feeling that if we have a lousy farm bill, we’ll be in a position to write a better farm bill after November.”