News
House plans ’18 Farm Bill vote this week
The Farm Bill is a top priority in the U.S. House of Representatives this week. Ag Committee Chairman Michael Conaway worked all weekend trying to round up support from other Republicans.
The House Rules Committee will meet Tuesday afternoon to determine debate rules for the Farm Bill. The Committee will decide Wednesday which amendments will be debated on the House floor, most likely Thursday.
There are 103 proposed amendments, and only two Democrats are offering amendments, as Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi urges her party to oppose the entire bill for its proposed changes to the SNAP nutrition assistance program.
One of the Democratic amendments from Ron Kind of Wisconsin would make cotton ineligible for the ARC and PLC programs and return cotton to the Stacked Income Protection Program. He also wants to reinstate the Conservation Stewardship Program. Democratic Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon has proposed a $125,000 gross income limit per year for crop insurance premium subsidies.
Some proposed amendments are getting opposition from farm groups and businesses. More than 300 including American Farm Bureau Federation, National Corn Growers Association, and many ag lenders sent Congress a letter last week urging them not to gut crop insurance, undermine sugar policy and impose unworkable program payment limits.
Other proposed amendments would limit SNAP purchases to healthy food allowed under the Women, Infants and Children program, cap the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) at 24 million acres a year, delist the grey wolf from the endangered species list, and remove industrial hemp from the controlled substances act.
-
-
I am disappointed that the legislature works so hard to destroy the living spaces of so many of us so that the very few CAFO owners can continue expanding and polluting the air and water. This isn’t about food production–it’s about taking the rights of property owners, neighbors. we should take a lesson from Illinois that has just passed a law so that tax $ will go to buy food from sustainable Illinois producers to be used in Illinois faciilities like prisons, schools, universities and so forth. A program like that would give farmers more choices on how to care for their land and what to raise.
Please do not pass legislation that prevents local control for ODOR and MANURE DISPOSAL This undermines every principal of “good neighbor” by making it impossible to restrict CAFO’s and manure disposal near schools, nurseries, churches, towns and neighborhoods across America. This is a direct infringement on our civil liberties to the pursuit of happiness. It implies that the government does not care about working Americans nor their life investments in their homes and schools. The absolutely objectionable odors they produce at close proxcimity is horrendous. People who have lived and worked the land for generations will be forced out by the odor, stress and illness that come with them. Allowing the CAFO to buy the prized land for pennies on the dollar. PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE LEGISLATION THAT PROHIBITS HEALTH ORDINANCES. They are our only protection.