The looming government shutdown is an example of the roadblocks facing the new farm bill, Senate Agriculture Committee chair Debbie Stabenow told reporters on Wednesday. “Everything keeps getting in our way,” she said. “It’s an unusual time.”
While Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst expressed frustration that the 2018 farm law will expire on Saturday without a replacement, Stabenow pointed out that in 2018, President Trump enacted the law in December. The Michigan Democrat said her hope was that “we can meet that time line again.”
Arkansas Sen. John Boozman, the senior Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, said he and Stabenow confer often about the farm bill. “We should be in good shape until the first of the year,” he said.
The top priority for Congress in the near term will be finding a way to keep the government open after Saturday, when the fiscal year ends. Other legislation, including the farm bill, will have to wait.