Rep. Conaway Signals Many Differences Remain on Farm Bill

Differences between the House and Senate on the next farm bill appear to be broader than many think, according to comments from House Ag Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas, in an interview this week."We probably have two titles that are not an issue with... the remaining issues are across the board," Conaway said in an interview with IEG Policy.As for comments by Senate Ag Committee Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Panel Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., that the crunch time on the farm bill is really in December, Conaway said, "I couldn't disagree more," adding, "I don't want to talk about anything other than getting this done" by September 30. "I don't want to talk about anything other than getting this done within the time that's on the clock that's running right now, period," Conaway said. "And anybody who's going to talk like that maybe are signaling they've given up, but there's no give up on this. You don't see me giving up."As for how he measures success in the bill, Conaway said, “One of my guideposts is to strengthen work requirements and enforcement (food stamps) and we've got to have a better Title 1 than we've currently got and the Senate bill didn't do either of those. I believe the House bill did." And strengthening that farmer safety net is key, especially with the big drop in farm income that has been experienced in U.S. agriculture, he noted.Asked if he needed to have a farm bill supported by a majority of Republicans, Conaway said, "I can't bring back a bill that gets more Democratic votes than Republican votes. I'm not going to do that."He reiterated that he and House Ag Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., negotiated all titles of the House version of the farm bill except the nutrition/SNAP title. "That story got lost in the fight (on the House farm bill vote)."