Senate Agriculture Committee
In the mid-terms, many Senate Ag panelists ‘safe’
With two screaming exceptions, it's becoming safer and safer electorally to be a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee in a farm bill year. Five of the 10 committee members facing the voters on Nov. 6 are rated as "safe" for a new term, with Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the senior Democrat on the panel, awarded that rating on Thursday by Sabato's Crystal Ball, a political analysis site.
Senate Ag leaders question USDA’s authority to relocate agencies
In one of the few challenges by Congress to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue's management of USDA, the Senate farm bill would restore the office of undersecretary for rural development, abolished last year by Perdue. Now, Perdue faces 12 pointed questions from Senate Agriculture Committee leaders, including what legal authority allows him to move a research agency with 330 workers into his executive office.
Farm bill on parade: ‘Let the games begin’
When House and Senate negotiators sit down to reconcile differences between legislation, as the 56 farm bill conferees are scheduled to do on Wednesday, there are few formal rules to govern their work. "It is most common that a conference committee holds a single public meeting, sometimes for members to offer opening statements only," says one guide. Illinois Rep. Ed Madigan probably set the record for brevity with an opening statement of four words on the 1990 farm bill: "Let the games begin."
Senate panel approves USDA and CFTC nominees
The Senate Agriculture Committee cleared two nominations, James Hubbard for agriculture undersecretary for natural resources and Dan Berkovitz for CFTC commissioner, for a Senate vote on Tuesday. If confirmed, as expected, Hubbard would be the fifth of the eight-member team of senior executives to join Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue at USDA.
Senate ag panel set to vote on CFTC and USDA nominees
Members of the Senate Agriculture Committee are scheduled to vote Tuesday on two Trump administration nominees, Dan Berkovitz to be a CFTC commissioner and James Hubbard to be agriculture undersecretary for natural resources.
‘Big Four’ goal is farm bill as quickly as possible
The Republican chairmen and senior Democrats on the Senate and House Agriculture committees, known collectively the “Big Four,” met on Thursday and agreed “to get a farm bill finished as quickly as possible.”
Roberts: The ‘Big Four’ should send a farm bill signal
As a demonstration of congressional determination to enact the new farm bill on time, Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts wants the “Big Four” negotiators to meet before the House recesses for the rest of the summer. A meeting this week would “signal to farmers that we will get a bill ... before the Sept. 30 deadline,” he said.
House Republicans insist on welfare reform in the farm bill
Speaker Paul Ryan put welfare reform at the top of the agenda for upcoming farm bill negotiations with the Senate, saying on Wednesday that the work-or-job-training requirements backed by House Republicans for SNAP recipients are vital for putting Americans to work.
Senate Ag leaders agree to farm payment limits; is crop insurance next?
The Senate farm bill will clamp down on payments to so-called managers who live in town and exercise little control over farm operations, announced the leaders of the Agriculture Committee on Wednesday. Still to be resolved was a proposal to make the wealthiest farmers pay more for federally subsidized crop insurance.
Farm bill easily clears procedural hurdle in Senate
In a procedural vote, senators indicated strong support on Monday for the bipartisan farm bill written by Senate Agriculture Committee leaders, voting 89-3 to open debate on the $87-billion-a-year legislation.
Senate stands as last chance for farm bill reformers
Although Congress is weeks or even months away from sending the 2018 farm bill to President Trump for enactment, the end of the road is near for reformers, whose last chance lies in the Senate. The crop insurance industry, a popular target for fiscal hawks and other critics, is asking senators to vote against "amendments that would do significant harm" to the federally subsidized program during debate that could end with Senate passage of the bill this week.
Razor-thin House victory for GOP package of welfare reform in a farm bill
On its second try and by a two-vote margin, the Republican-controlled House passed the GOP-drafted farm bill on Thursday. The bill imposes stricter work requirements on 7 million people to qualify for food stamps while easing eligibility rules for farm subsidies.
Farm bill is cleared for Senate debate with clash possible on payment limits
Thanks to speedy action by the Agriculture Committee, the Senate is on track to pass its five-year farm bill before the end of June, boosting the chances that the Republican-controlled Congress will enact the major legislation before election-year tensions stymie work later this year.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.