Work on a new five-year farm bill ground to a halt on June 20 when the House of Representatives overwhelmingly defeated a bill backed by House Republican leaders on a vote of 195 – 234. Now, it is unclear whether Congress will be able to agree on new farm legislation before current USDA programs begin to expire on September 30.
Originally, both the House and Senate had appeared on track to approve their respective farm bill reauthorizations this month, setting the stage for a conference committee to hammer out the differences between the two bills. The Senate did its job on June 10, passing the “Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act” (S. 954) on a 66 – 27 vote. That bill included several AMWA-backed provisions, such as making water quality restoration and enhancement projects eligible for USDA grant assistance through a new Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) and calling out “nutrient management and sediment reduction” activities as an eligible use of funds.
H.R. 1947, the House’s farm bill reauthorization, did not include the specific nutrient language but otherwise proposed a similar RCPP framework to that of the Senate bill. But House Republican leaders angered Democrats by including $20 billion worth of food stamp cuts in the proposal while also adding new work requirements for food stamp recipients. Some conservative members, on the other hand, were upset that cuts in the bill did not go far enough. This dissatisfaction led a broad coalition to vote against the bill and ultimately doomed its chances of passage.
The next steps for the farm bill have yet to be determined. House leaders could attempt to work out a compromise on food stamp spending, but if that is unattainable Congress may have to settle for another short-term extension of the current farm bill – the same outcome as last year.