The House of Representatives passed a farm bill Thursday that would update key agriculture programs and nullify animal-welfare state laws like California's Prop. 12. The vote was 224-200.
Fourteen Democrats and one Independent voted for the bill and three Republicans voted against it.
The passage comes after tumultuous political fighting over anti-hunger program cuts, pesticide laws, corn-based biofuel and more.
In a major win for the Make America Healthy Again movement, lawmakers approved an amendment to strip from the bill a provision to establish federal supremacy of pesticide-labeling laws over state rules. House Agriculture Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson called the move a risk to farmers and the broader food system. Crop science. company Bayer also decried removal of the language that it says it meant to avoid " a patchwork of regulations creating ambiguity." Read more here.
A major sticking point throughout the process was the push by farm-state lawmakers to allow year-round U.S. sales of higher ethanol fuel blends, known as E15. A plan was scuttled on Wednesday to give E15 a separate vote alongside the farm bill after concerns arose that the biofuel measure might not have enough support amid oil refinery opposition and cost concerns.
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The plan now is for a vote on E15 on May 13, after House lawmakers return from a recess next week, Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, told Agri-Pulse.
Lawmakers now expect an upcoming vote on procedure to unlink E15 from the farm bill. If successful, the farm bill wouldn't have to wait for an E15 bill vote before moving to the Senate.
"It probably gives leader Thune more options, as opposed to waiting for it to come through," Nunn said, referring to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. "It can come directly to the floor. So I actually, personally, think this is a huge win for us."
Iowa is the country's largest producer of ethanol and the corn used to make it.
Lawmakers also approved an amendment from Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., to add hot rotisserie chicken to the list of items eligible for purchase using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, as well as an amendment from Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., to exempt tractors, sprayers and combines from certain emissions standards.
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