Farm BIll Spending
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. Funding runs out on January 19th for the DOT, Housing and Urban Development, food agencies, veteran’s programs, and the USDA.
But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says spending negotiators are still trying to figure out the best way to avert a shutdown.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says it won’t be easy because House GOP leaders want more spending cuts than Senate Democrats …
GRASSLEY … “Now, the House wants to do something different, whether it involves some side agreement or just efforts for the House to reduce expenditures, that’s their business that I don’t have any control over, or why voice an opinion on.”
But Grassley says he and the Senate are sticking with a deal President Biden made with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a deal that cuts spending less than House Republicans demand.
Grassley says farm bill funding disagreements continue.
Democrats want to hold onto pandemic food stamp levels, while Republicans want SNAP savings to go to farm programs …
GRASSLEY … “At 85 percent of the farm bill being nutrition and 15 percent of it for family farmers, it just isn’t much of a farm bill. We want to put more ‘farm’ into the farm bill.”
But doing so will take money, especially to boost reference prices that trigger farm payments.
And unless new money is found for the farm bill, that means going to other farm bill titles like nutrition for savings.
