Legislative Activity Cabinet Confirmation Hearings This week, the Senate will be busy holding confirmation hearings for at least seven of President-Elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees. The president-elect’s choice for Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), however, has yet to be named. As history has shown, it is not unusual for the agriculture secretary … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Farm Bill Conference Progress This week, we expect the House to adjourn until 2014 without passing a conferenced farm bill, despite House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) expressing his willingness to have the chamber consider a conference report. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) has indicated that the conference committee will most … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Farm Bill Conference: Priority Issues At-A-Glance On October 30, the 41 House and Senate farm bill conferees convened at a public meeting to formally kick-off negotiations, although informal talks began a few months ago between agriculture leadership’s staff. Despite many conferees cautioning against pre-maturely drawing lines on issues, it was clear what issues … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY Farm Bill Conference This Wednesday, October 30, marks the official start to the farm bill conference, which will be a public meeting involving the 41 House and Senate conferees. For months, agriculture leadership and their staff have met behind the scenes on an informal basis to start conversations on reconciling the two farm … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Farm Bill This week, agriculture leadership in both chambers will likely announce a date for the farm bill conference to begin. Last week, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) shared that the farm bill conference would begin when both chambers are in session, which means that a date will likely be scheduled … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Farm Bill As expected, early last week the Senate reappointed its farm bill conferees. The House, however, has yet to name its conferees. In late September, staff had indicated that the House would appoint conferees shortly after October 1. With the government shutdown, the appointment of conferees will likely be postponed until Congress … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY House Nutrition Title Bill Last week, the House passed its nutrition title bill, the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013 (H.R. 3102), by a vote of 217 to 210. The bill would cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) funding by $39 billion over the next 10 years, … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY FARM BILL This week, the House will consider the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act, most likely under a closed rule, after aggressively whipping votes in support of the bill last week. There are fairly serious concerns about getting the majority 218 votes needed, as some Republicans find the proposed $40 billion in … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY Farm Bill As Congress returns from the August recess, the House agenda for September will include floor consideration of a nutrition title bill that looks to enact major reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps). The Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act aims to cut $40 billion … Continue Reading
The public debate over SNAP cuts and other reforms has continued in anticipation of Congress’ return after the Labor Day weekend. This week, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) released a study strongly criticizing the House Nutrition Title Working Group’s proposal to cut $40 billion from SNAP over a ten-year period. The report … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Farm Bill. Last Thursday, June 20, the House failed to pass its version of the Farm Bill by a vote of 195 to 234. Overall, 171 Republicans voted for the measure and 62 opposed the measure due to concerns that there was still too much spending on farm subsidies and the Supplemental … Continue Reading
