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Shining Light on Farm & Food Policy for 20 Years.
Friday, May 17, 2024
The Senate Agriculture Committee scheduled a Nov. 28 hearing on three nominations for top positions at USDA: Mindy Brashears to be undersecretary for food safety; Naomi Earp, to be assistant secretary for civil rights; and Scott Hutchins, to be the department's chief scientist.
Farm bill negotiators are under the gun to finalize an agreement as lawmakers return to work this week for the first time since Democrats swept the House GOP out of power in the mid-term elections.
The farm bill negotiators face a self-imposed deadline this week for reaching a deal that Congress could act on by the end of the month when the 2014 farm bill expires.
The No. 2-ranking Senate Republican is urging the Senate’s farm bill negotiators to consider tightening food stamp work requirements in line with provisions in the House-passed version.
Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts plans to call the first formal meeting of the farm bill conference committee shortly after the Labor Day recess and hopes to make headway by then in settling differences with the House negotiators.
Advocates for local and small-scale farming faced a bleak future as Congress prepared to write a new farm bill, so they decided to broaden support by reaching across party lines.
The Senate's nine farm bill negotiators include Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who wants the legislation finalized next month, as well as a Democrat facing a tough re-election race this fall, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota.
When House and Senate negotiators sit down in coming days to start writing the final version of a new farm bill, they will find that many of their sharpest differences will be over how far they should reshape and fund conservation programs.
Leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee have agreed to include tougher commodity program eligibility rules proposed by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in the farm bill the Senate is debating this week.
If history is a guide, there’s little chance Congress will enact a new farm bill this year. Congress hasn’t enacted a farm bill in the same year it was first introduced since 1990, which is what lawmakers are trying to do this year.