After more than a year of delays, the House of Representatives has finally passed a new farm bill. While many farmers and farm loan seekers will likely be relieved to hear about this major step forward, the ultimate progress of the bill remains in doubt due to the status of food stamps.
Since last summer, the farm bill has been impossibly mired in partisan politics. Last year, the Senate and the House Agriculture Committee passed drafts of the farm bill, but the leadership in the House refused to allow those drafts onto the floor. This summer, Congress took another stab at the bill, but it was defeated in the House due to debate over nutritional subsidies.
After hurried negotiations, Republicans in the House regrouped enough to finally pass the 2013 Farm Bill in a 216-208 vote (with all Democrats voting no).
While passing a new bill represents a major step forward, it is unlikely that the bill will advance much further. In order to pass the vital farm legislation, Republicans stripped out all nutritional subsidies, separating the farm bill from food stamps funding. While this separation won over a handful of recalcitrant Republican representatives, it is unlikely that Democrats in the Senate will vote for the bill, leaving farmers in the same political limbo that they’ve been for the past few weeks.
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Written by: Justin Ellison / Farm Plus Staff Writer