The House Agriculture Committee, as part of a broad congressional commitment to passing a new five-year farm bill this legislative session, recently passed a draft of the vital farm legislation, moving the bill forward for the first time since last August.
Last summer’s farm bill debate, despite some encouraging successes early on, quickly devolved into a partisan fiasco. Despite the Senate voting on a five-year farm bill and despite the House Agriculture Committee passing a draft of the farm bill, the House’s GOP leadership refused to vote on the measure, preferring to put politics over the needs of the farm community.
After a late night session earlier this week, the Ag Committee passed the $940 billion bill in a 36 to 10 vote (with mostly Democrats voting against the bill).
The House version would cut direct payment subsidies, an increasingly controversial mechanism of farm support, and would reduce agricultural spending by about $40 billion, with a little over half of that amount coming from reductions in food stamp and nutritional spending.
The level of nutritional subsidies cuts have upset many Democrats, who view them as an attack on the poor in a period of economic hardship. Democratic efforts to reduce food stamp cuts through the amendment process were defeated in a largely party line vote.
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Written by: Justin Ellison / Farm Plus Staff Writer