House Rejects Farm Bill

Partisans on both sides of the aisle found plenty to object to as the House debated the Farm Bill this week. But few expected the bill to be defeated, let alone by such a wide margin.

The June 20 vote on the " Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013 " (H.R. 1947) was 195-234. With substantial opposition to the bill among the Republican majority, the Republican leadership was counting on dozens of Democrats crossing the aisle to support the measure. However, during the floor debate, amendments that tightened requirements for people who receive nutritional assistance and significantly changed the dairy support program proved too much for many Democrats. In addition, the White House issued a veto threat , saying "The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 1947. . . The bill would reduce access to food assistance for struggling families and their children, does not contain sufficient commodity and crop insurance reforms, and does not provide funding for renewable energy, which is an important source of jobs and economic growth in rural communities across the country." In the end, only 24 Democrats supported the bill.

Nutrition and agriculture programs are operating today under a temporary extension of the 2008 Farm Bill. The extension expires September 30. However, no new budget authority or mandatory funding for bioenergy and other renewable energy programs was approved with that extension, so many rural energy title programs remain on hold for now. As reported in SBFF last week , the Senate passed its version of the Farm Bill June 10.