On yet another government shutdown eve, let’s take a look at another Congressional failure that stretches back to last year: Getting a new Farm Bill done.
Earlier this month, all the talk in D.C. was about another extension. The problem with extensions like that passed amid the “Fiscal Cliff” debate earlier this year is that the progress which has been made in the U.S. Senate and at the committee-level in the House on moving away from direct payments is lost. Conservation programs are another huge loser in the extension game.
Roger Johnson, NFU president, said of the extension talks, ““An extension will not solve the issue of uncertainty that U.S. family farmers and ranchers are facing each day that we continue to not have a new farm bill. If Congress again extends current law, indefensible policies such as direct payments to farmers regardless of commodity prices will continue, costing $8 to 10 billion over the next two years.”
Later this month, House Republicans separated the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), aka Food Stamps, from the Farm Bill. Long a way to build bridges between rural and urban interests, the robust nutrition title of the Farm Bill has been an important component of getting both programs done every four years. Although the House bill passed out of committee already cut SNAP by $40 billion, the Tea Party faction of the GOP in Congress got their way. In a nutshell, this meant that a Farm Bill without SNAP lost massive Democratic and moderate Republican support. Still no Farm Bill.
