Lawmakers gear up for another week of intense negotiations on the 2018 Farm Bill as the deadline looms. House leaders beyond the Ag committee are making the case for their priorities in the bill.
House Leadership marked the importance of the Farm Bill by marking it HR. 2, second only to last year’s tax reform bill. While in the Senate, Ag Committee leaders are already working towards middle ground, with an initial compromise offered by House Ag Chairman, Mike Conaway.
Proposed changes to the SNAP program that are part of the legislation continue to be the most contentious items, with the House version taking a more drastic approach to reforming work requirements for SNAP, while the Senate version makes only minor adjustments. With an initial compromise offered by House Ag Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX), House and Senate leaders are already working toward middle ground, both on the nutrition title as well as on key differences in the commodity, conservation and energy titles, though reports have said that Senator ranking member Debbie Stabenow doesn’t think the offer went nearly far enough to reconcile the two bills.
Senate leaders say there is a long way to go for the 2018 Farm Bill, but with fewer than 7 work days remaining for lawmakers to hammer out their differences before the current bill expires, doubt is growing that a compromise will be reached.
Source: RFD-TV