The chairman of the US Senate Agriculture Committee, John Boozman of Arkansas, has warned that the new five-year farm bill could be lost to the election calendar, Michigan Ag Today reports. Congress has left Washington for a month-long campaign recess without completing the bill, and the latest extension of the current law has expired.
"What's going to happen is, we're in danger of losing the farm bill, not getting it passed," Boozman said. "And then also, the states losing a year. Because I don't know what's going to happen in the election, these things are hard to get done."
One of the main sticking points is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Boozman has offered Democrats a one-year delay for states to lower SNAP overpayment rates and avoid funding penalties; Democrats want two years.
Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a committee member, said the election result could decide whether Congress finishes the bill or starts again. "If it's just the House that they carry, I think we still got a chance of getting the five-year farm bill," he said. "If they carry both houses, I think they would want to write a different farm bill next year."
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, also on the committee, said he expects the remaining work to be completed after the election, possibly by attaching the farm bill to a larger piece of legislation. "My expectation is that one way or the other, we are going to get the rest of this farm bill done," he said, adding that farmers and ranchers need certainty and predictability.
Photo: Rebecca Hammel, U.S. Senate Photographic Studio / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Source: Michigan Ag Today
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