House Farm Bill Amendments Total More Than 100

A total of 103 amendments were filed for the House farm bill. The bill is expected to be voted on this week, unless it's pulled back if it lacks enough votes.Many of the proposed amendments will not likely be approved for debate and/or a vote. There are a few amendments proposed by Democrats — Reps. Gregory Meeks of New York, Ron Kind of Wisconsin and Earl Blumenauer of Oregon — despite predictions of no Democratic amendments, made by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Ag Ranking Member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., who said the bill was “unamendable.”Amendment topics include the usual controversial proposals on capping crop insurance premium subsidies, means testing for the program, changing the sugar program, etc. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the Freedom Caucus, proposed limiting commodity payments to “actively engaged” farmers and permitting only one farm manager per operation. A similar provision was adopted during the 2014 Farm Bill debate but was ultimately stripped from the conferenced version of the bill. This is frequently a proposal pushed in the Senate by Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.Another proposal would limit commodity and conservation assistance to only those producers having an adjusted gross income of $500,000 or less. Currently, the limit for most programs is $900,000.