In between a rock and a Ryan

You may have heard that the U.S. House of Representatives recently voted down the chamber’s farm bill. It is not the first time it has happened and probably won’t be the last. And as tempting as that may be to write this column on, it’s more than likely that the news would no longer be news by the time you read this.

I want to focus on the big kahuna here—Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. Let me tell you, I do not envy his job. And I’ll remind you that he did not want the Speaker job when he took it after John Boehner retired.

Speaker Ryan is in a constant struggle to keep his “House” in order. With 235 Republican members in the House, and multiple factions within the party, his job is the equivalent of herding cats. It doesn’t help that members of the House of Representatives are in a constant re-election mode, as they are up every two years.

Speaker Ryan has repeatedly said that he wants to make welfare reform law by the time he leaves office after his term ends this year, emphasizing the jobs aspect of welfare reform.

A good chunk of welfare reform, especially with respect to jobs, can (in certain circumstances) be accomplished in the farm bill.

So, when the leader of your party wants something done, you try your best to get it done. And that’s just what House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway tried to do with the food stamp work requirements in the farm bill.

It doesn’t appear that agriculture groups had any problems with the farm policy in the bill, so that only leaves one culprit for the bill’s failure. What really sunk the House farm bill is the inclusion of work or work training requirements for able-bodied, 19- to 59-year-olds without children under age 6, who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps).

Unfortunately, the House Democrats—and the far right-leaning Freedom Caucus (a.k.a. the Tea Party) killed the bill, albeit for different reasons. Democrats didn’t like the work requirements, and tea partiers wouldn’t vote for the bill until they got a vote on immigration. Though I don’t agree with either position, at least the Democrats had reasons that were actually related to the farm bill. Tea partiers like to obstruct when they don’t get their way, and their “my way or the highway” mentality is damaging to the Republican party as a whole.

On the other side of the Capitol, the Senate Agriculture Committee is still working on its farm bill, and we should be getting word any day now when it will be introduced. But we do know that work requirements won’t fly in the Senate, because of the razor-thin margins.

At this rate, both the House and Senate may be on the same schedule getting their separate bills through their respective chambers. They’ll then have to be merged together through a conference committee.

Editor’s note: Seymour Klierly writes Washington Whispers for the Journal from inside the Beltway.