From The Denver Post (Allison Sherry):
Republican Reps. Cory Gardner of Yuma and Scott Tipton of Cortez were the only Colorado House members who supported the legislation. Democratic Reps. Ed Perlmutter, Diana DeGette and Jared Polis and Republican Reps. Doug Lamborn and Mike Coffman all voted to support dozens of amendments in the bill, but all voted against it.
The farm bill would have chopped $20 billion from the food stamp program and reformed direct payments for farmers. It would have delivered wildfire aid to places hardest hit and would have offered assistance to Colorado farmers suffering in the drought get federal help.
The Senate passed a compromise bill earlier this month that cut $4 billion from food stamps and reformed the way agricultural subsidies are doled out…
Kathy Underhill, executive director for Hunger Free Colorado, urged members to vote against the bill because of the food stamp cuts, which could have kicked 55,710 out of 510,441 Coloradans on food assistance off the program.
From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Gary Harmon):
The House’s rejection of the 2013 Farm Bill was a disappointment, U.S. Rep Scott Tipton, R-Colo., said. The bill died with 195 yeas and 234 nays with Tipton, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, voting for it.
“This was not a perfect bill, but a good first step toward reform that would have eliminated or consolidated more than 100 government programs, and saved $40 billion,” Tipton said in a statement.
The savings included $20 billion in reforms to the food-stamps program. The bill also included a provision that would have allowed the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to lease new air tankers without additional cost to taxpayers, to fight wildfires.
Tipton said he was disappointed with “this missed opportunity to implement needed reforms, as well as the missed opportunity to provide certainty for the agriculture community by continuing vital programs including crop insurance, research, investments in production and regulatory relief.”
From The Greeley Tribune (Eric Brown):
The House rejected a five-year, half-trillion-dollar farm bill Thursday that would have cut $2 billion annually from food stamps and let states impose broad new work requirements on those who receive them. Those cuts weren’t deep enough for many Republicans, who objected to the cost of the nearly $80 billion-a-year food stamp program, which has doubled in the past five years.
The vote was 234-195 against the bill, with 62 Republicans voting against it.
The bill also suffered from lack of Democratic support necessary for the traditionally bipartisan farm bill to pass. Only 24 Democrats voted in favor of the legislation after many said the food stamp cuts could remove as many as 2 million needy recipients from the rolls. The addition of the optional state work requirements by a Republican amendment just before final passage turned away many remaining Democratic votes.
Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., said in a phone interview Thursday that he voted in favor of the farm bill, and was disappointed that more of his colleagues in Congress didn’t join him in doing so. “It’s absolutely frustrating,” Gardner said. “We had in front of us a bill that would reduce the deficit, included needed reform, and cut entitlement spending … but we just didn’t have the votes to get it through. You hate to see us take this step back.”
If the House and Senate cannot come together on a bill, farm-state lawmakers could push for an extension of the 2008 farm bill that expires in September. However, many farmers, ranchers and agriculture organizations describe some of the programs in the 2008 farm bill as outdated, and are ready to part ways with them.
The House could also choose to negotiate a new bill with the Senate and try again.
Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., and No. 2 Democrat Steny Hoyer of Maryland, both of whom voted for the bill, immediately took to the House floor and blamed the other’s party for the defeat. Cantor said it was a “disappointing day” and that Democrats had been a “disappointing player.” Hoyer suggested that Republicans voted for the food stamp work requirements to tank the bill.
The Senate overwhelmingly passed its version of the farm bill last week, with about $2.4 billion a year in overall cuts and a $400 million annual decrease in food stamps — one-fifth of the House bill’s food stamp cuts.
The White House was supportive of the Senate version but had issued a veto threat of the House bill.
Some conservatives have suggested separating the farm programs and the food stamps into separate bills. Farm-state lawmakers have for decades added food stamps to farm bills to garner urban votes for the rural bill. But that marriage has made passage harder this year.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said Thursday that the committee is assessing all its options and will continue its work in the “near future.” Just before the vote, Lucas pleaded with his colleagues for support, saying that if the measure didn’t pass people would use it as an example of a dysfunctional Congress.