Few days remain for new farm bill before extension of old one expires
July 26, 2013 | 02:00 PM
Prospects for finishing a new farm bill before the extension of the 2008 farm bill expires appear dim, with the House leadership not planning to appoint conferees until September and Congress in session only nine days that month.
The House and the Senate will leave next Friday for five weeks, returning on September 9. The House is scheduled to be in session from September 9 to 12 and from September 17 to 26, but will take the week of September 23 off, returning on September 30, the day the farm bill expires.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has said he will appoint conferees in early September, Politico reported Thursday.
But Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, told Politico that although she had told House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., she would make concessions on the nutrition title, she came away from a Tuesday meeting believing Cantor isn’t interested.
“He doesn’t want a bill,” Fudge told Politico. “Just in terms of our discussion, it was clear to me, it was my sense that he really does not want a bill.”
Cantor and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., had a testy exchange about the status of the farm bill on the House floor on
Hoyer noted that Cantor had not put anything about the farm bill on the House floor for next week and added that the Senate had sent its bill to the House with a House bill number and that “We could clearly go to conference on that. The fact is, we haven’t gone to conference on the farm bill.”
Cantor replied that the leadership is working on a nutrition bill “so that we can, yes, act again on that,” and that Hoyer “is not accurate that we don’t intend to eventually go to conference and iron out the differences between the House and Senate on both of those issues, on the ag policy as well as the nutrition policies.”
But Hoyer noted that House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, had said when the farm-program-only bill came up that it would allow the farm bill conference to begin.
Hoyer said he was talking about “facts” rather than “intentions,” and that the farm bill situation is an example of why polls show working-class Americans and business executives are concerned about Congress's inability to work together.
The House and the Senate will leave next Friday for five weeks, returning on September 9. The House is scheduled to be in session from September 9 to 12 and from September 17 to 26, but will take the week of September 23 off, returning on September 30, the day the farm bill expires.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has said he will appoint conferees in early September, Politico reported Thursday.
But Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, told Politico that although she had told House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., she would make concessions on the nutrition title, she came away from a Tuesday meeting believing Cantor isn’t interested.
“He doesn’t want a bill,” Fudge told Politico. “Just in terms of our discussion, it was clear to me, it was my sense that he really does not want a bill.”
Cantor and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., had a testy exchange about the status of the farm bill on the House floor on
Hoyer noted that Cantor had not put anything about the farm bill on the House floor for next week and added that the Senate had sent its bill to the House with a House bill number and that “We could clearly go to conference on that. The fact is, we haven’t gone to conference on the farm bill.”
Cantor replied that the leadership is working on a nutrition bill “so that we can, yes, act again on that,” and that Hoyer “is not accurate that we don’t intend to eventually go to conference and iron out the differences between the House and Senate on both of those issues, on the ag policy as well as the nutrition policies.”
But Hoyer noted that House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, had said when the farm-program-only bill came up that it would allow the farm bill conference to begin.
Hoyer said he was talking about “facts” rather than “intentions,” and that the farm bill situation is an example of why polls show working-class Americans and business executives are concerned about Congress's inability to work together.
