CARAH HART
Brownfield Ag News
The president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives says recent changes in the upcoming presidential election and other politics have Congress in observation mode instead of completing a new farm bill.
“…It is crazy. I’ve been at this a very long time and have never witnessed anything that even comes close to this.”
Chuck Conner tells Brownfield House lawmakers seem to want a new farm bill, but there are holdups in the Senate. And at the end of next week, Conner says lawmakers are on recess through August and they will prioritize appropriations work when they return in September.
“With each passing day, it becomes less and less likely we’ll see those people come together to work on this bill and get it done this year. We are running out of time, we really are.”
Putting together a farm bill isn’t easy, but Conner says by historical standards, the differences aren’t that great.
“This should have been a farm bill that was relatively easy to wrap up and get done and it just hasn’t turned out that way, because we’ve just had so many political considerations thrown into the mix. So many red lines of “you can’t cross this” or “you can’t do that.”
He says holdup in the Senate are the commodities and nutrition titles and there won’t likely be a perfect compromise.
“The Senate needs to take up a bill and just start the debate and see where it leads at this point instead of sitting on their hands waiting for the elusive compromise that may or may not exist anytime soon.”
The U.S. Senate Ag Committee hasn’t scheduled a markup for the new farm bill and the U.S. House Ag Committee passed a bill out of committee at the end of May.
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