2018 farm bill
McConnell quashes objections to industrial hemp
Industrial hemp, used in products from clothes to health aids, could be the new cash crop for small farms, perhaps the successor to tobacco for making money on limited acreage, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday.
Payment limits? Ask the chairman, says Grassley.
Congress can "restore common-sense rules and fiscal integrity" to the farm program by setting a $125,000-per-person limit on farm subsidies, said seven farm advocacy groups in advance of the Senate Agriculture Committee vote today on its farm bill. Rather than give his own opinion, the sponsor of the $125,000 limit told reporters to ask chairman Pat Roberts about the chances it will become part of the bill.
What is the farm bill and why does it matter? A FERN video explainer.
With the Senate Agriculture Committee set to begin review of its version of the farm bill, FERN put together a video explainer, which unpacks this sprawling — and often misunderstood — piece of legislation that shapes the nation's food, farming, and anti-hunger programs. <strong>No paywall</strong>
Grassley’s farm bill challenge: Limit subsidies to actual farmers
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley wants to tighten down access to U.S. farm subsidies, a lightning-rod issue as Congress tries to update ag and public nutrition programs this year. "Why can't we require farmers who collect huge sums of money from the government to actually work on the farm?" said Grassley on Monday, arguing for a "hard" cap of $125,000 per person in annual payments and restricting payments to farmers, their spouses and one manager per farm, regardless of size.
Senate farm bill designed to clear 60-vote hurdle
Roughly 16 months ago, at their first hearing for the 2018 farm bill, Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts and Sen. Debbie Stabenow agreed to write a bipartisan bill that would be enacted on time, a seemingly simple goal that has eluded Congress repeatedly. With a committee vote set for Wednesday on their 1,006-page bill, the two committee leaders say they are on the verge of a major bipartisan victory.
In contrast to House, Senate ag leaders announce no-drama farm bill
The Senate Agriculture Committee will vote next week on a bipartisan farm bill that makes few changes to food stamps, farm supports, and crop insurance, a marked contrast to the decision by House Republicans to pursue welfare reform in their farm bill.
Toiling to get to go on a farm bill that’s status quo
The leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee are treading a surprisingly tortuous path to a bipartisan farm bill that would make no major changes in food stamps, farm supports or crop insurance. They are expected to unveil their package this month, a major advance toward enacting a farm bill before the 2014 law expires on Sept. 30.
Roberts’ farm bill goals: Senate vote in mid-June, no hair on fire
The Senate could vote on the $87 billion-a-year farm bill in mid-June, but the legislation won’t repeat the House’s attempt at major SNAP reform, said Agriculture Committee chairman Pat Roberts on Wednesday.
Don’t mess with farmers, warns biggest U.S. farm group
Voting against the farm bill can invite electoral consequences, the president of the largest U.S. farm group wrote in an essay. “Rural America still packs an influential punch,” he said.
House quietly aims for farm bill revival by June 22
Four days after defeating the farm bill, the House quietly delayed Speaker Paul Ryan's attempt to revive the bill until June 22, with GOP leaders hoping that hardline Republicans will vote for it the second time. Members of the House Freedom Caucus provided the decisive votes against the farm bill to underline their demand for a roll call on immigration controls. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
Less leverage for farm payment reform, says Grassley
The USDA has a "glaring loophole" in its farm subsidy rules that allows people to collect up to $125,000 a year in subsidies for providing farm management, said Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who is trying to get a tougher set of rules into law.
GOP whip says House will try immigration, then farm bill re-vote
Acceding to demands by conservatives, the House will take up the restrictive Goodlatte-McCaul immigration bill during the third week of June and then follow that with a new vote on the farm bill, said Majority Whip Steve Scalise on Monday.
After House rejection, farm bill timeline may stretch into 2019
In the last farm bill, conservative Republicans demanded the biggest cuts in food stamps in a generation, leading the House to defeat the bill in June 2013. It then took Congress more than six months to put the pieces together. The same outcome is possible now after a revolt by Republican conservatives defeated a new farm bill calling for stricter work requirements for food stamp recipients and looser payment limit rules for farmers. But this time the delay may stretch into the new year.
Big crop subsidies despite USDA payment limits
A corn, soybean and rice operation collected $3.7 million in crop subsidies in 2015, said the Government Accountability Office in a report on USDA's rule limiting subsidies to people "actively engaged" in farming. The rule requires members of general partnerships and joint ventures to provide land, capital or equipment to a farm and also labor or management.
With a bit of help, House GOP breezes past farm bill obstacles
Democrats joined the Republican majority to defeat the final challenges to crop subsidies in the House farm bill on Thursday, immediately followed by two-party teamwork to reject a more stringent line of SNAP work requirements than were written into the bill.
While House smolders, Senate chugs along on farm bill
The leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee are working in private on a bipartisan farm bill, according to aides, who declined to suggest when a draft would be released. The emphasis on bipartisanship contrasted with the political rupture in the House over work requirements for food stamps.
Sharp division, specter of 2013 defeat in farm bill debate
House Democrats stood solidly against the GOP-written farm bill in a test vote on Wednesday that gave Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway little room to maneuver on the legislation, which would tighten work requirements for food stamps and loosen subsidy rules for farmers.
Civil rights groups ask for House defeat of farm bill
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of 200 national groups, asked U.S. representatives on Monday to vote "no" on the farm bill, saying stricter work requirments for food stamp recipients "would increase food insecurity and hardship" among poor people. "Imposing barriers to food assistance will not incentivize or equip people with what they need to seek and maintain work," wrote coalition president Vanita Gupta.