It appears that House and
Senate Agriculture Committee leaders are close to a Farm Bill deal. While we
have not seen legislative language, it is our understanding that under the
working agreement on the farm bill, the nutrition title would include $8-9 billion in cuts to SNAP made by taking
the House level cut to the Heat
and Eat program, concentrating the full impact of the cuts in the 16 states
that participate. Leaders had hoped to unveil the deal this week, but a
key budget analyst was snowed in in New Jersey and unable to provide the necessary
Congressional Budget Office scores in time for action before the House
adjourns tomorrow, Friday, Dec 13. As such, Ag Committee leaders announced their intention
to move the bill in early January.
The House has
introduced legislation providing a short-term farm bill extension through
January. House Ag Chairman Lucas (R-OK) wanted the legislation in case it looks
like Congress won't be able to wrap up the full farm bill
reauthorization in early January. In the meantime, Senate leaders have stated
explicitly that they will not take up an extension, hoping to maintain pressure
on Congress to wrap up negotiations and vote on a final farm bill in
early January. One major concern that arises by not passing a bill by
December 31st is that dairy programs will revert back to 1949 farm
law, which required USDA to provide price supports at a much higher level than
today and which could lead to a significant spike in milk prices. However, Secretary Vilsack has assured negotiators
that, provided they take action in early January, he will hold off on
implementing permanent law and milk prices will not be impacted.
Agriculture Committee
leaders met Tuesday and are scheduled to meet again today. While the House is
not in session next week, Chairman Lucas and Ranking Member Peterson (D-MN) are
expected to come back next week to finish up negotiations with Senators Stabenow
(D-MI) and Cochran (R-MS) to finalize the framework. Staff would finish writing
legislative language to match the framework deal before Congress returns in
January. In January, the conference committee would have a public meeting to
vote on the conference agreement. Some amendments may be concerned at the
conference committee level to allow members who are unhappy with certain
elements of the legislation to raise their concerns. The bill would then move
to the House and Senate floor for final passage.
Many thanks
for all of your tremendous advocacy efforts. Together with our partners, we
generated over 4,000 calls to Congress last week and Presbyterians alone sent
over 2,000 emails in the last three weeks calling for a Faithful Farm Bill. To
read more about PC(USA) advocacy for a comprehensive and faithful Farm Bill, visit
our blog.
We will
share additional legislative details as they are made available. In the
meantime, members of Congress are heading home for the holidays. It's a great
time for you to invite them to worship, to volunteer in your food pantries or
feeding programs, and to continue to elevate the issues of hunger and ongoing
need in your communities. In a season
when we are celebrating the coming a Savior to all people, the stark
inequalities become startlingly apparent.
Make sure your elected officials understand the importance of protecting
and strengthening nutrition programs and of completing a comprehensive,
sustainable Farm Bill.
