House farm bill stopped at the border

The fight over immigration stopped the House farm bill like a militia stopping illegals at the border.

It was cold, callous and wasn’t particularly good for rural America.

Or even urban America, for that matter.

The House Freedom Caucus, filled with three-dozen of the most conservative of conservatives, was seemingly giddy at joining with Democrats to stop the farm bill in its tracks.

Raw ambition rather than service to the people of a district simmered on the House floor as one of the tories, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-OH, spoke of jubilation in scuttling the farm bill in order to get a chance to limit legal immigration and hammer down on illegal entry into the U.S., even if that hammer—a border wall—has as much chance of going up as the Kansas City Royals winning the World Series this fall.

“(The farm bill) wasn’t my main focus,” said Jordan, who’s made no secret he’d like to be the one to replace House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-WI, sooner rather than at the end of Ryan’s term. “My main focus was making sure we do immigration policy right” and “actually build a border security wall.”

Ryan tried to convince Freedom Caucus leader Mark Meadows he’d get his immigration debate after the farm bill was passed.

Now, he’ll still be waiting until the middle of June, the bill won’t pass the Senate, and the House farm bill—which needs to be passed before a Sept. 30 deadline or else the nation reverts to permanent farm law unless there’s an extension passed and signed into law—still will be dead on arrival when it reaches conference committee with the Senate, once it passes its version of the farm bill.

The sticking point for the House farm bill is over work requirements for recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payments. Ryan is depending on House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-TX, to move this bill through as part of Ryan’s dream to alter the nation’s social safety net before he leaves office next January.

What we’re left with—for now—is the same situation farmers and ranchers were left in five years ago, when the Freedom Caucus tried to dismantle the urban-rural framework of the farm bill to reduce both farm payments and SNAP payments, as well as working to further divide the nation between not just farm and city, but by white and black, and rich and poor.

I was gripped by C-SPAN’s coverage of the debate. We saw heroes for both sides, but it seemed there were too few of them as they were far outnumbered by too many villains on both sides, too.

And that’s what kept the House farm bill stuck at the border passing. I should call out the villains, but that would likely make them happy, since bad guys like their names in print.

There should be credit given to a few Republicans who kept things fixed on getting a farm bill passed and who worked in amendments that will work for people, crops and livestock. Members like Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-PA, adding chronic wasting disease to the list of high-priority research and Extension initiatives.

Credit, too, needs to be given to Democrats who spoke with courage about poverty and how SNAP really offers help and hope. Rep. Martha Fudge, D-OH, offered eloquence at a time when emotions were raw.

Past and present leadership was there to rise above the fray.

There’s people like former House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-OK, no stranger to divisions in the House, to offer some quiet wisdom.

“For the sake of farmers and ranchers across rural America and the consumers who rely on access to safe and affordable products, we must begin the farm bill process in a timely manner,” Lucas said. “The previous farm bill presented similar challenges, and I am committed to continuing a dialogue with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move this process forward.”

As Lucas was House Ag chairman five years, the ranking member, then and now, is Rep. Collin Peterson, D-MN. As he said, this job of putting together a farm bill is too big for one party, another wise thought.

“Let’s come together and figure out a bill that works for everyone. We don’t have to let this process be held hostage by the demands of the extremes of our parties. We can and should take the time to get the farm bill right,” Peterson said.

As the farm bill once again snakes through the miasma that is the House in 2018, there needs to be an understanding among members that it’s not about them, it’s about the good of the country.

Otherwise, we’ll teach them a lesson come November.

Larry Dreiling can be reached at 785-628-1117 or [email protected].