Michael Conaway
The ‘big two’ U.S. ag groups differ on House farm bill, SNAP overhaul
The National Farmers Union said it opposes the Republican-written farm bill awaiting a vote in the House. The American Farm Bureau Federation, for its part, said the partisan split over the bill was not an insurmountable barrier to passing a new farm and public nutrition law this year.
Republican-drawn farm bill would loosen limits on collecting farm subsidies
There is little bite in the weak limits the government imposes on farm subsidy payments, and now reformers say the limits will become toothless under provisions in the Republican-drawn farm bill in the House.
GOP-controlled panel approves SNAP overhaul that Democrats say is unworkable
After Democrats spent three hours criticizing House Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway’s plan to overhaul SNAP, the committee approved its draft of the farm bill on a party-line vote.
Peterson’s farm bill plan: ‘Ask a lot of questions and vote no’
The Democratic leader on the House Agriculture Committee said that “you can’t fix a bad bill,” so when the committee meets on Wednesday to vote on the proposed farm bill, “We’re going to ask a bunch of questions and vote no.”
Conaway’s ‘springboard out of poverty’ is a trap door, say anti-hunger groups
House Republicans said on Thursday that they would expand work requirements to cover 6 million SNAP recipients and were willing to go it alone to pass the first openly partisan farm bill in living memory.
GOP plan: To get SNAP benefits, get training or get to work
Michael Conaway, the Republican chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, proposed a dramatic change in SNAP today that would significantly tighten eligibility rules for the program.
Conaway package: $20 billion in SNAP cuts, more work required for benefits
As many as 5 million people will have to work longer hours each week to avoid a 90-day limit on food stamp benefits under revisions proposed by the Republican chairman of the House Agriculture Committee but uniformly opposed by its Democratic members.
Conaway: I’ll pass a farm bill without Democratic help
At an impasse with Democrats over his plans for large cuts in the food stamp program, House Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway says he will write — and pass — a farm bill without them.
Peterson: No negotiations until Democrats see farm bill text
Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee say they are increasingly concerned that Republican Chairman Michael Conaway is pursuing steep cuts in food stamps. As a result, the panel’s lead Democrat, Collin Peterson, shut off farm bill negotiations until Conaway releases all pertinent materials.
Food stamp impasse delays House work on farm bill until mid-April
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.
House Ag panel leaders try to bridge a food stamp chasm
The chairman of the House Agriculture Committee is sticking to his goal of gaining committee approval of the new farm bill by the end of this month — while also winning bipartisan support for it.
Will Mike Conaway out-do Trump on work requirements for food stamps?
Along with the much-criticized Harvest Box of nonperishable food for low-income Americans, President Trump proposed in his budget more stringent limits on food stamps for people who work less than 20 hours a week. House Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway may go beyond Trump in his proposals to restrict eligibility and to channel millions of food-stamp recipients into workfare and job-training programs.
Hard choices for the 2018 farm bill are on the horizon, says Conaway
The House could debate the new farm bill as early as January or February, said House Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway, meaning that very soon farm-state lawmakers “are going to have some hard decisions to make.”
It’s no cloak-and-dagger secret, Conaway eyes Intelligence chair
Texas Rep. Michael Conaway is getting high marks for his temporary job running the House Intelligence Committee this summer, including its probe of Russia's efforts to disrupt the 2016 elections. The seventh-term Republican, in early stages of writing a panoramic farm bill on the Agriculture Committee, had a one-word answer — "sure" — when the Texas Tribune asked if he'd like to be the Intelligence chairman someday.
Farm bill work starts this fall, vote possible this year, says Conaway
The House could vote on its version of the 2018 farm bill as early as this fall, said Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway at a farm bill "listening session" in his home state of Texas, the No. 1 cotton and cattle producer in the country. After an unsuccessful redesign of the cotton program in the 2014 law, cotton growers repeatedly said their crop must be eligible for the same subsidies as the other major U.S. crops, such as corn, soybeans and wheat.
House ag chair sees enough money for farm bill, even with cuts
Chairman Michael Conaway says the House Agriculture Committee will have enough money "to craft a farm bill that works for all of our various stakeholders" despite a prospective cut in funding for farm and nutrition programs, according to Huffington Post. Conaway agreed to the cut as part of discussions among House Republicans, who want to increase spending on the military and reduce spending on social programs to help make room for a tax cut.
States should push food-stamp recipients to work, says Conaway
After two years of hearings on the "past, present and future" of food stamps, the premier U.S. antihunger program, the House Agriculture Committee chairman says states "must ensure those who can work do" so. "There is concern that general work requirements are not adequately enforced," said chairman Michael Conaway in a 66-page report, referring to provisions dating from 1971 that working-age recipients should register for work and accept a suitable job if it is offered.
As House panel concludes food-stamp review, Democrats warn against cuts
Senior Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee stood firm against cuts in the food stamp program at the end of two-year review inaugurated by chairman Michael Conaway, a Texas Republican. The largest U.S. antihunger program is a popular target for Republicans, who say it costs too much — $74 billion in fiscal 2015 — because it provides benefits to too many people.
Two new Republicans on House Agriculture
Republican Reps. Troy Balderson of Ohio and Chris Jacobs of New York are newly appointed members of the House Agriculture Committee, announced Rep. Michael Conaway, the GOP leader on the panel, on Thursday.