After more than two years of delay, stalling, and acrimonious debate, farm bill negotiations between the House and Senate may successfully end by Thanksgiving, potentially giving farmers a new five-year farm bill by December.
For months, the 2013 Farm Bill appeared as DOA as its 2012 counterpart. While both the House and Senate passed versions of the bill this year, the House dragged its feet in appointing members of the congressional conferral committee. That, combined with September’s government shutdown, led many pundits to believe that Congress would once again fail to pass new farm legislation.
Despite these fears, the joint agricultural committee appears to be reaching a breakthrough on the Farm Bill. While there are still major hurdles separating both bills, the procedural work and staff work, which has previous stalled other bills, appears done. All that remains is for House and Senate farm politicians to sit down and hammer out an agreement.
“We’ve done all the staff work. What needs to be done now is the tradeoffs that can only be done between members,” House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson said earlier this week.
According to Peterson, House and Senate committee members hope to have an agreement in place by Thanksgiving.
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Written by: Justin Ellison / Farm Plus Staff Writer