Washington Insider: Farm Bill Complications Continue

It appears that the House Agriculture Committee is still determined to pass its farm bill in its current form, without Democratic support, Bloomberg is reporting. To do that, committee chair Mike Conaway, Texas will need Freedom Caucus votes but he still lacks a “pledge of support” from that quarter yet, Bloomberg says.Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told reporters last week that he can’t promise his members will provide the necessary farm bill votes—even if they succeed in forcing a separate vote on unrelated immigration legislation. “We haven’t guaranteed anything,” said Meadows. “We’re still negotiating on immigration.”The farm bill was defeated 198-213 after 30 Republicans joined all Democrats in opposition. The House conservatives sought to use their votes against the farm bill as leverage to press for action on an unrelated immigration bill, while Democrats objected to provisions in the farm bill that would set new work requirements for food stamp recipients.“I’m hopeful that whoever leadership is negotiating with will commit to a certain number of yes votes,” House Ag Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas, told Bloomberg May 23.The House deadline to vote on a motion to reconsider the farm bill was extended to June 22 by language attached to the rule governing floor consideration of three bills on the House floor this week.House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has offered the Freedom Caucus a vote on Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte‘s R-Va., immigration bill — a measure that would provide temporary and renewable status to undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. The immigrants, known as “Dreamers,” would not get a path to citizenship.“I’m 100 percent confident that we will have some kind of a farm bill by September whether it’s an extension of the existing policy or new policy we will have that in place,” said Meadows. So far, authorizers and leadership are not conceding that an extension might be needed.The vote on a motion to reconsider doesn’t allow Conaway to make any changes to his bill. If he did, he would have to introduce the measure all over again and return to the House Rules Committee.“I don’t have any more things to change,” Conaway told reporters. “We’re going to pass [our bill].”The House bill would reauthorize various commodity, trade, rural development, agricultural research, and food and nutrition programs. Under the current farm law, program authorizations will expire Sept. 30 or at the end of the applicable crop year.Democrats had opposed additional work and work-training requirements for SNAP recipients in the House bill. But following the original failure of the bill, committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., signaled their willingness to reopen bipartisan talks, especially on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.Peterson told Bloomberg this week that he hasn’t heard from Conaway regarding any re-negotiation. “It’s not my place to call him, he’s in charge,” said Peterson. “It doesn’t surprise me, given what he’s done so far.”So, it is too early to estimate what all of this means. There is still a strong sense that a farm bill will pass, but the budget hawks’ opposition to the current Supplemental Nutrition Programs is quite strong, as is Democratic support for the program. In addition, the high level of uncertainty regarding ag export market access under ongoing trade negotiations likely will build-in even greater than usual support for farm safety net programs. Certainly, these are fights that producers should watch even more closely than usual as they proceed, Washington Insider believes.