With only a few legislative days left until Congress recesses until after the Nov. 6 elections, the “big four” of agriculture policy continue to huddle to put together a conference approved farm bill that can pass the muster before a House seeking welfare reform and a Senate seeking evolutionary changes.
House and Senate agriculture leaders haven’t had any major breakthroughs as they head into a crucial week for meeting their goal of passing a farm bill by Sept. 30, Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts, R-KS, and ranking member Debbie Stabenow, D-MI, told reporters Sept. 17.
As of press time, the so-called big four—which includes the two Senate ag leaders and their House counterparts—still had not worked out if they would be able to meet in person. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-TX, was in Washington even though the House wasn’t in session, but it wasn’t clear if all four lawmakers will be able to line up their schedules, Roberts told reporters, as Politico reported.
While current law expires at the end of the month, both Roberts and Stabenow have now suggested that any issues allowing the farm bill to lapse would not really be felt until December, which could mean lawmakers are moving back their goal post as they try to come to a deal on the farm bill. “We’re not sure we actually need an extension,” Stabenow said Sept. 17. Roberts offered the same sentiment the week before.
Stabenow also was asked whether President Donald Trump’s tweets and Conaway’s recent comments blaming her for holding up negotiations could poison the well. “It’s not helpful, certainly … but I’m going to act in a way that I believe is responsible and helpful to get a farm bill done,” Stabenow said to Politico. “I can’t be responsible for other people.”
President Donald Trump Sept. 13 blasted Democrats and Stabenow in particular, for “fighting tooth and nail” against the farm bill because of disagreements over the House’s proposal to tighten work requirements for food-stamp recipients.
Trump did not mention that Roberts, a fellow Republican, has also opposed the work requirements because he has said that version of the bill has no shot at passing in the Senate.
“Senator Debbie Stabenow and the Democrats are totally against approving the Farm Bill,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “They are fighting tooth and nail to not allow our Great Farmers to get what they so richly deserve. Work requirements are imperative and the Dems are a NO. Not good!”
Stabenow responded to Trump by noting that the Senate passed its version by a large margin.
“In case you missed it, the Senate passed a bipartisan #FarmBill that got 86 votes—the most ever,” she said on Twitter. “I’m not letting politics distract me from working across the aisle to finalize a good bill that will deliver certainty for farmers and families in Michigan and across the country.”
While the House bill would expand the number of non-disabled individuals who need to meet certain work requirements in order to receive food stamps by raising the top age to 59 from 49 and including more people caring for school-age children, it would seek to strengthen work requirements on about 7 million SNAP recipients and spend tens of billions of dollars to expand capacity in state-run job training efforts.
No House Democrats voted for that version of the farm bill. Senators, including Roberts and Stabenow, have said the current law already has work requirements in place for some food-stamp recipients and that the new bill includes legislation to increase program integrity to further reduce program abuse.
Finding common ground on SNAP, which accounts for the vast majority of farm bill funding, remains the biggest sticking point for the top ag lawmakers. Roberts, Stabenow, Conaway and House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-MN, all have insisted that they want to pass a farm bill ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline and have been holding lengthy meetings in person and on-phone phone discussions trying to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions.
Conaway told reporters he appreciated Trump’s prodding of Stabenow.
“She’s got to come to the table and so far from my perspective, I’m not getting the kind of negotiating out of her that gets us to a deal,” Conaway told Politico.
“Hardworking men and women in the production of agriculture in this country need a farm bill and it’s our responsibility to get that done. If we can’t deliver that then the reasons why need to be fully vetted so that they understand exactly who supports them and who doesn’t.”
Stabenow suggested there’s still little agreement on large swaths of the omnibus farm legislation. “We very much want to get it done,” she said. “There’s just very different views on how farm programs should look, how conservation programs should look, how food assistance programs should look, how energy programs should look—there’s just a lot of big differences, but we have not stopped working.”
Roberts said while progress has been made on the commodity and conservation titles, “the real big issue is SNAP.” He added, “To date, at least, I’ve not been ingenious enough … to come up with something that will work, but as this draws down to this final week here, we’ve got to come to some agreement.”
Larry Dreiling can be reached at 785-628-1117 or [email protected].
