Farm and nutrition assistance programs run out on Sept. 30, but disaster provisions from the previous farm bill expired last year. That’s a big problem for farmers who are trying to plan for years ahead as well as deal with this year’s withering drought.
The Senate slogged through dozens of amendments to approve a five-year farm bill with reforms to central farm-support programs and cuts to nutrition programs – and renewed disaster assistance. That bill, agreed to in July, achieved significant bipartisan support.
In the House, the agriculture committee approved legislation with steeper cuts, and it, too, won bipartisan support. But House leaders didn’t bring the bill to the floor, fearing a fight among conservatives – just as lawmakers were heading home to face their constituents – over the severity of spending cuts or perceived favoritism of some industries over others.
GOP divisions in the House were so deep that there weren't enough Republicans to support even a one-year extension of the farm bill attached to funding for disaster relief. Instead, the House approved by a narrow margin a measure authorizing disaster funds, just before the break. Several dozen Democrats provided the votes to put the measure over the top.
The Senate, though, declined to take that route, leaving the issue hanging.
What’s next? The Senate’s top Democrat on agriculture, Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, says lawmakers would work informally over the August recess to try to move the bill before the end of September. House majority whip Kevin McCarthy (R) of California likewise said July 30, at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast for reporters, that he had similar hopes for the bill.
But will be a heavy lift, given the House’s deep divisions and the fact that there are only six full legislative days in September.
