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Senate farm bill expected Thursday
Minnesota Senator and Ag Committee member Amy Klobuchar tells Brownfield introduction of the Senate farm bill is expected Thursday. “Bi-partisan agreement, how sweet those words are given what happened in the House, that would maintain the safety net, with some agreements on the nutrition program, does something more on the dairy front, and we think it’s a really good bill.”
Sen. Klobuchar
Klobuchar says the Senate bill contains important pieces farmers need. “I’ve been working really hard on a catastrophic disease outbreak, the Avian Flu to get a vaccine bank going so we can anticipate this better, and I think I’m going to have some success with that. I think you’ll see some additional changes, some premium adjustments and other things in the dairy area. I don’t think you’ll see a lot of changes to the sugar program.”
Klobuchar expects to see a continuation of a strong energy title that’s good for biofuels, provisions for agricultural data sharing, and some reforms for the SNAP program that are different from the House bill. “We don’t want to make some draconian changes that (are) not only not the right thing to do when there are still people suffering, but also not the right thing to do if you want to get a bill done.”
Klobuchar says the Senate farm bill still has to go through the committee process for possible amendments before a floor vote, where they need 60 votes to pass.
Can someone tell me how this is a really “good bill” when nothing really changes from the last Farm Bill? Still no relief for the taxpayers or consumers.