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Goodlatte’s reaction to farm bill

Congressman Bob Goodlatte sponsored a controversial dairy amendment to the latest attempt of a farm bill that removed the market stabilization provision from the Dairy Security Act, yet he still rejected the final version of the House farm bill which failed last week.  Goodlatte told Brownfield Ag News that his reason was the SNAP nutrition program, even though more than $20 million in cuts were included in the House bill.

“The food stamp program has grown by nearly 300 percent in the last ten years,” explained Goodlatte. “It’s now going to cost about $80 billion a year.”

Goodlatte, Vice Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, believes that the next step for Congress is to split the farm bill.

“We will probably either see a modified farm bill come back, maybe with just the farm provisions and without the food stamps in it, or we may see an extension of the current farm bill,” he said.

Goodlatte, a Republican from Virginia, says that it would be better to extend the current farm bill and take time to get it right than to pass one that doesn’t reform the food stamp program sufficiently.

He was one of only 62 Republicans who voted against the farm bill, which proved to be detrimental in getting the bill passed in the House.

AUDIO: Bob Goodlatte (14:00) mp3