The “big four” farm bill negotiators are divided over the House Republican proposal for stronger work requirements for food stamp recipients, said Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts on Thursday, acknowledging that Congress may miss an informal Sept. 30 deadline for passing the bill. President Trump, who previously signed an executive order for new and stricter work rules for welfare programs, said on social media, “Work requirements are imperative and the Dems are a NO” on the farm bill.
Roberts said, “Sept. 30 is the preferred date” for the 2018 farm bill to take effect, “but that’s not going to be the end of the world if that doesn’t happen.” Months ago, Roberts and other congressional agriculture leaders identified Sept. 30, when the current farm law expires, as the ideal date to complete work on the $87-billion-a-year legislation.
“Oh, I think if we [negotiators] all agree, I think the president will sign” the farm bill, Roberts told reporters a couple of hours before Trump said on Twitter, “Senator Debbie Stabenow and the Democrats are totally against approving the Farm Bill. They are fighting tooth and nail to not allow our Great Farmers to get what they so richly deserve. Work requirements are imperative and the Dems are a NO. Not good!”
Stabenow, one of the “big four” negotiators, tweeted, “In case you missed it, the Senate passed a bipartisan #FarmBill that got 86 votes — the most ever. I’m not letting politics distract me from working across the aisle to finalize a good bill that will deliver certainty for farmers and families in Michigan and across the country.”
The White House has sided with House Republicans on SNAP work requirements throughout the farm bill process, though it has not threatened a veto. It said the GOP-drafted House version of the bill was “a step toward meaningful welfare reform” by requiring more “work-capable” adults to work 20 hours a week as a condition of eligibility. It said the Senate bill “misses key opportunities to reform” SNAP without those requirements.
In order to secure bipartisan support, Roberts and Stabenow limited SNAP revisions in the Senate bill to provisions that would encourage administrative efficiency. The Senate rejected, by a 2-to-1 margin, a work requirement package that mirrors the House plan.
Besides Roberts and Stabenow, the lead negotiators on the farm bill are House Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway and Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, the senior Democrat on the panel. In the past week, House Speaker Paul Ryan said stronger work requirements for SNAP are vital.
The “big four” are discussing changes to rules that allow states to issue waivers that exempt recipients from work requirements. Roberts said a “waiver solution is absolutely crucial” to House-Senate agreement on the farm bill. At present, able-bodied SNAP recipients are required to register for work and accept a suitable job if they’re offered one. At the same time, the large majority of SNAP recipients are elderly, disabled, or children, who are not expected to work. Conaway has complained for the past couple of years that the states are lax about enforcing work requirements.
There also are continuing disagreements over farm subsidy rules and land stewardship programs.
Roberts said the four ag leaders plan to confer by telephone on Friday. “We will continue to work hard to get a bill, and that’s our primary goal.” If there is a stalemate on negotiations, “we can go clear to December before things get serious, and we could have an extension [of the 2014 law]. But we’re not talking about that now,” he said.
As a practical matter, it would be difficult for Congress to complete work on the bill unless there is agreement in short order. Staff workers would need time to compile the text of the bill, complete with references to other legislation it affects, for there to be a vote in both chambers. That would be followed by the submission of an “enrolled” copy of the bill, which is printed on parchment, signed by congressional officials, and delivered to the president for signature.
When President George W. Bush vetoed the 2008 farm bill, one of the issues was a glitch in which a House clerk omitted a section of the 673-page bill before sending it to the White House. Bush ultimately vetoed the bill twice and Congress overrode the veto twice.