With the 2013 Farm Bill still stalled in conference, influential politicians from major swing states are putting pressure on the House and Senate, hoping that the demands of presidential politics can help restart the farm bill process.
For the past two years, the farm bill has been stalled in Congress. Last year’s bill was killed in committee by Republican leaders in the House of Representatives (Washington insiders have suggested that Speaker of the House John Boehner did not want to pass a major sending bill in the middle of an election year).
While the 2013 bill has at least passed both houses of Congress, the House and Senate bills are so radically different that it is unlikely that a unified bill will pass.
Food stamps funding appears to be the major sticking point between both houses. The House bill would decouple nutritional subsidies from farm legislation while also seriously cutting food stamp funding. According to Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, “If we were to accept the House proposal, 4 million people in this country would lose food stamps completely and 200,000 children would lose school lunches. Given the recent expiration [of stimulus-funded SNAP gains], that would be a huge double hit [to working-class and low-income families].”
Virginia Congressman Bob Goodlatte defended the move, stating, “As Congress works to rein in federal spending, we must make serious efforts to truly reform nutrition programs.”
With Virginia becoming a major presidential swing state, and with agriculture constituting a major part of Virginia’s economy, it is likely that Virginia representatives will take an increasingly public role in the upcoming farm bill debate.
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Written by: Justin Ellison / Farm Plus Staff Writer