Farm Bill Getting Back On Track

Farm Bill Getting Back On Track. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture.

The farm bill has unexpectedly gotten back on track with a late breaking decision by the House GOP to go to conference with the Senate - even as efforts continued to resolve the debt crisis and government shutdown. Prompted by a freak Great Plains storm that claimed some 75-thousand cattle - and a government shutdown and expired farm bill that killed any hope of quick aid - the House GOP jumpstarted farm bill talks they've refused to hold for weeks. The new move started in the House Rules Committee - where Ag Chair Frank Lucas told the panel he's gone as far as he can in pre-conference talks with Senate ag leaders.

LUCAS: But ultimately there are just issues that require a full conference, a full airing of the process to be determined and that's what I'm asking for the opportunity now. Everything that we can do, which is much of the bill, I think the groundwork has been laid by this constant dialog but now I need a full conference to iron out some big challenging differences.

The biggest of those is in food stamps - where the House cuts nearly 10-times the Senate's 4-billion dollar SNAP savings over 10-years. Lead House Democratic opponent of the House cut Jim McGovern.

McGOVERN: There's one thing that I really, really, really disagree with that I hope could be remedied in conference and that is what I think is an unfortunate nutrition title. I don't believe what was passed on this House floor is reform. I think it's going to hurt a lot of people and I think for many of us to be able to vote for a Farm Bill we're going to have to change that - not just by a little bit but dramatically.

A final dollar figure for food stamp savings could make or break a final farm bill - too high and Democrats and some Republicans will vote no - too low and conservatives will vote no. House Ag Ranking Member Collin Peterson complains GOP inclusion of non-ag committee members on the conference makes the job of getting a farm bill done a lot harder rather than a lot easier.

That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.