From Food and Water Watch (Patty Lovera):
In what seems to be a new rite of fall, Farm Bill watchers are once again wondering how and if Congress can finish this bill before the end of the year. At the end of last week, talks between the leadership of the House and Senate Agriculture committees broke down, which means finishing the Farm Bill using the normal process in 2013 would be nothing short of a winter holiday miracle.
To recap: The 2008 Farm Bill expired on October 1, 2012. Then on New Year’s Day, a 9-month farm bill extension was included in the bill that was passed to fix the supposed “fiscal cliff.” But the extension didn’t cover everything that was in the 2008 bill, and left dozens of programs for sustainable and organic agriculture, beginning farmers and disaster assistance behind. And on October 1 of this year, that short-term extension expired too.
So once again, we are finishing the year with an expired Farm Bill, waiting to see if Congress can finish the process and pass a new bill before “permanent law” (from the 1930’s and 1940’s) kicks in and affects the price of farm commodities like milk.
With Congress in session for just a handful of days this year, they have a lot to do. The bill is currently in conference committee, which has to reconcile the very different versions passed by the House and Senate. The major sticking points are the commodity programs and nutrition programs…
One of the biggest points of debate seems to be how to calculate the payments to farmers in a way that complies with the World Trade Organization rules about farm subsidies. Missing from this process is any discussion of the real reforms we need, including restoring grain reserve programs that could be used to provide stability for farmers and rein in overproduction of these commodity crops.
On nutrition, the gap between the House and Senate is huge. The Senate bill would cut $4 billion from SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps), while the House bill would cut almost $40 billion. This is a huge sticking point and Senate Democrats have vowed not to accept a cut that large and the President has threatened to veto any bill with such a cut.