Lawmakers met this week on the farm bill, making “good progress.” However, major differences remain between the House and Senate bills that the conference committee will address next week. Congress returns next week with 16 days in-session scheduled for the Senate in September, and 11 in-session days in the House of Representatives. That means differences in the farm bill must …
Top Ag Lawmakers Meet Ahead of Farm Bill Conference
The top lawmakers on the farm bill conference committee met this week, ahead of the first formal meeting next week. The farm bill conference is set to meet September 5th, in the first public meeting likely dominated by posturing and speeches. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts told Politico that he, Senate Agriculture ranking member Debbie Stabenow, House Agriculture Committee …
Senate Stalls on Farm Bill Conference
The Senate left Washington on Thursday without voting to move the farm bill forward to conference, or even naming conferees. Politico says those were two goals that Ag Chair Pat Roberts and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow wanted to get done before Senators left town. Politico says the delay could be a result of a number of different things, including backdoor, …
Ag Committee Leaders Meet to Discuss Farm Bill
Senate Ag Committee Chair Pat Roberts, Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow, House Ag Chair Michael Conaway, and Ranking Member Collin Peterson met about the farm bill conference. The meeting took place even though the Senate hasn’t voted to go to conference. The Hagstrom Report says, “The Big Four,” as they’re sometimes called, issued a brief joint statement that didn’t mention any …
Certainty with Senate Farm Bill
The Senate Ag Committee passed a bipartisan farm bill in under three-hours Wednesday, adding just a handful of amendments. The 20-1 vote was in stark contrast to the purely partisan effort in the House Ag Committee. In a joint statement, Committee leaders Pat Roberts and Debbie Stabenow said the bipartisan farm bill process “is a reminder of how things should work …
Senate Agriculture Committee Leaders Find Common Ground in Bipartisan Farm Bill
U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., released the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. The Committee will meet to consider the legislation at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time on June 13. You will be able to click here to watch live. “When Ranking Member Stabenow and I started this journey in Manhattan, Kansas, last year, we made …
Senate Ag Leaders Introduce Bipartisan Farmer Veteran Legislation
Members of the Senate Agriculture Committee are touting legislation that will help veterans in agriculture. Introduced by Committee Chair Pat Roberts and ranking Democrat Debbie Stabenow, the Farmer Veteran Opportunity Act of 2018 makes all new veterans eligible for support from the Department of Agriculture. The Senators say the bill also improves access for farmer veterans across eight existing initiatives …
Farm Bill Text Expected Thursday
Democrats and Republicans on the House Agriculture committee remain at odds with each other over the nutrition title of the farm bill. As the committee scheduled the draft release today (Thursday, 12:30 p.m. ET), the bill is “in trouble,” as ranking member Collin Peterson puts it, according to the Hagstrom Report. Peterson and committee Democrats previously vowed not to support …
Roberts: Senate Farm Bill Work Scheduled Next Month
Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Pat Roberts hopes to begin Senate farm bill work next month. This week, Roberts said that he wants to mark up the bill in April, adding that his staff and the staff of the committee’s ranking Democrat, Debbie Stabenow, have begun work on the bill. The key to the bill, Roberts told the Hagstrom Report, is …
Ag Committee Members Press USDA on Payments to Deceased Farmers
Senate Ag Committee members Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan raised concerns with the USDA’s Farm Service Agency about farm program payments to deceased farmers. The Senators sent a letter to the agency, saying that they need to be careful stewards of taxpayer money and work to avoid wasteful payments. The letter says, “As we prepare to …
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