House Panel Moves Farm Bill Forward
by July 13, 2012 7:32 am 75 views
With the U.S. Senate having already approved a measure, a House agriculture panel made progress on another.
From Peter Urban with Stephens Media:
The House Agriculture Committee completed a marathon session early today (Thursday, July 12), approving a five-year farm bill that offers greater protections to Arkansas rice growers than a Senate-approved version.
After opening debate on the bill 17 hours earlier, the committee voted 35-11 to approve the legislation that sets policies for federal agriculture and nutrition programs. Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, the only Arkansan on the panel, voted in favor of the bill.
The House bill keeps a price support program that pays farmers when prices fall below cer
tain levels. The target price system is favored by Southern rice and peanut farmers, who objected to the Senate bill that relied on crop insurance and a new shallow-loss program.
The most hotly debated issue for the panel was food stamps. The bill would reduce the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by about $1.6 billion a year by tightening rules that states use to determine who can participate.
Urban reports on other constituencies that will be impacted by the House version, such as the state's catfish industry. Read more at this link.