The Farm Bill Conference Committee began their proceedings Wednesday.  Indiana Congressman Marlin Stutzman led a group of 27 members of the House that urged the committee to keep farm policy and food stamp policy separate.

Stutzman and his colleagues in the House asked the committee to maintain the separate reauthorization dates for food stamp and farm policy programs to ensure that each program receives separate consideration on its own merits in the future.  “Instead of passing trillion-dollar spending packages that are Farm Bills in name only, we should consider food stamps and farm policy separately,” he says.

In the letter, members wrote, “Now that substantial reforms have been made, we request the Conference Committee adopt the separate reauthorization timelines, three years for food stamps and five years for farm policy to ensure that these policies are debated and voted on apart from each other in the future.”

To view a full copy of the letter, click HERE.