July 17, 2013
www.gfb.org
Vol. 31 No. 29
HOUSE PASSES FARM BILL WITHOUT NUTRITION PROVISIONS The U.S. House passed its version of the 2013 farm bill on July 11 by a 216-208 vote. The bill, H.R. 2642 was virtually the same bill that the House voted down on June 20 but with the nutrition title removed. The bill included provisions to repeal 1938 and 1949 permanent laws that required new periodic farm bills. Under those laws, the absence of renewed farm bills would trigger extremely costly programs under which the government would purchase some commodities at preset prices, and there were no provisions for a number of commodities widely produced today. With a few exceptions, the vote was along party lines, with Democrats voting against the bill and Republicans voting for it. Georgia’s delegation voted along party lines, as well, with two exceptions: Republican Phil Gingrey voted against the measure while Republican Paul Broun did not vote. The Obama administration has threatened to veto the House farm bill should it reach the president’s desk. Georgia Farm Bureau opposed splitting the nutrition title from the commodity title in farm bill legislation. “The idea that we’ve come to a place in our country where we separate those two just doesn’t agree with what we stand for in Farm Bureau. I think we’ve taken a step back in separating them,” said GFB President Zippy Duvall, noting that the pairing of nutrition programs and farm programs had worked well for more than 50 years. The bill that was voted down in late June totalled $940 billion, including approximately $744 billion in the food stamp programs. The proposed food stamp spending in that bill represented a cut of $20.5 billion over 10 years. That version of the farm bill failed after the addition of late amendments that would have added requirements for individuals to qualify for food stamps. The next step in the farm bill process is for the House and Senate to appoint a conference committee to resolve the differences between H.R. 2642 and the Senate farm bill, S. 954, which passed by a 66-27 vote on June 10. S. 954 includes nutrition provisions, with approximately $4 billion in food stamp cuts over 10 years. “The important thing now is for the speaker to appoint conferees, get it into conference and come out with a recommendation from both the Senate and the House so we can fulfill the obligation of this country for a safety net, not only for agriculture, but for people who are struggling to maintain their access to food,” Duvall said. GFB was among 532 stakeholder groups that signed on to a July 2 letter urging House leadership not to separate the nutrition provisions from the farm bill.