Real Farm Bill Battle Ensues Now

By:  P.J. Griekspoor & John Vogel, Delta Farm Press  

U.S. House and Senate ag leaders pledged to convene the joint conference committee in July to hammer out a farm bill acceptable to both houses and President Donald Trump. The House version’s stricter SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) work requirements may be the most contentious. With midterm elections coming on, it’s sure to be a politically divisive issue.

Principal conference committee players are: Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), plus a handful of others still to be named. The “others” may prove to be significant to what clears the committee. Key differences exist between House and Senate bills, guaranteed to make the conference “a wild and woolly debate,” predicts Stabenow.

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