June 26, 2013
www.gfb.org
Vol. 31 No. 26
FARM BILL DEFEATED IN THE HOUSE The U.S. House voted down its version of the 2013 farm bill, H.R. 1947, by a 234-195 margin on June 20. Nine of Georgia’s 14 congressmen voted against it. Overall, 62 Republicans voted against the bill along with 172 Democrats. According to published reports, the Democrats objected to cuts in the nutrition portion of the bill while the Republicans who voted against it felt the bill didn’t make enough overall cuts. “We are very disappointed the House failed to pass a farm bill, but we appreciate the positive votes cast by Congressmen Jack Kingston, Lynn Westmoreland, Rob Woodall, Austin Scott, and John Barrow in support of the legislation,” Duvall said. “They understand the importance of agriculture in the state of Georgia and across this country. It is a national security issue and we want to make sure that we get this done and get it on its way to becoming a final bill.” The linchpin issue in the bill was the level of nutrition funding included in the farm bill, which called for more than $20 billion in cuts over 10 years to food stamps and other nutrition programs, which accounted for nearly 80 percent of the bill’s overall funding. By comparison, the farm bill passed by the Senate on June 10 would cut nutrition programs by $4 billion over 10 years. President Obama had indicated he would veto the House version because of the nutrition cuts. “The farm part of the farm bill was held hostage because of what Congress felt about the nutrition end of it, and that’s very unfortunate,” Duvall said. “Some people believed that there should have been deeper cuts in nutrition, and then there were congressmen who said we shouldn’t be cutting nutrition at all, so there’s a great divide there. We’re hoping they’re going to find some solution that they can agree on, so that we can go ahead and move forward with this bill.” The bill eliminated current direct payments and cut commodity programs by $18 billion over 10 years according to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office. The bulk of the commodity funding in the bill was in the form of crop insurance premium assistance. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), who sponsored the bill, said work to get a farm bill passed will continue. “I’m obviously disappointed, but the reforms in H.R. 1947 - $40 billion in deficit reduction, elimination of direct payments and the first reforms to SNAP since 1996 - are so important that we must continue to pursue them,” Lucas said. “We are assessing all of our options, but I have no doubt that we will finish our work in the near future and provide the certainty that our farmers, ranchers, and rural constituents need.” The 2008 farm bill expired on Sept. 30, 2012. Congress voted to extend it until Sept. 30, 2013.