The Senate Agriculture Committee will draft its version of the 2018 farm bill in April if chairman Pat Roberts’ plans hold up. Roberts discussed the timeline for the bill, but not its contents, at a child nutrition luncheon. The House Agriculture Committee had no immediate comment on when it would begin its work on the bill, although chairman Michael Conaway has suggested it would be soon.
Senate and House Agriculture committee leaders have said they expect to modify the 2014 farm law but not change it greatly in the new farm bill. The Trump administration, however, has proposed massive cuts in the crop insurance and food stamp programs. Conaway, too, has said that he wants meaningful reforms in food stamps. Farm groups have asked for higher support levels for the Price Loss Coverage subsidy and less county-to-county variation in payment rates for the Agriculture Risk Coverage subsidy. Dairy groups say the insurance-like Margin Protection Program needs to be strengthened.
During luncheon remarks, Roberts said he and the senior Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, Debbie Stabenow, were exchanging bill language, and that Republican and Democratic staff would discuss elements of the farm bill in the next couple of weeks, said The Hagstrom Report. In the end, Roberts said, he intends to have broad bipartisan committee support for the farm bill, which would make it easier to win a floor vote.
The Senate chairman said his preference would be to move the farm bill this month, but that the Senate will be occupied with debate of an omnibus appropriations bill and possibly an immigration bill.
Conaway has said he hopes for a committee vote on the 2018 farm bill during the first quarter of this year.