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Perdue: Elections are incentive for finishing farm bill

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says mid-term elections could be the incentive for Congress to complete the 2018 Farm Bill before the current one expires September 30^th.  Lawmakers don’t want to face elections without having completed the farm and nutrition measure, said Perdue, adding that there’s already enough uncertainty because of the growing number of global trade issues.

“Farmers need the predictability and that certainty of another authorized farm bill for the five years so they can begin to make cropping plans for the future,” said Perdue, in comments provided by the USDA.

The hammering out of House and Senate versions of the bill is expected to begin when lawmakers return from the July Fourth recess.  That’s something Perdue says he considers significant.

“We’re still a ways away,” said Perdue, “particularly with the work requirements on SNAP.”

Secretary Perdue made the comments in Pullman, Washington, during his fifth Back to Our Roots Tour in the northwest U.S.