Congress has failed for a second year to pass a new Farm Bill.
The one-year extension of the legislation expired yesterday and the temporary spending package congress approved last week to keep the government operating through December 20 did not include even a temporary continuation of Farm Bill policies. Congressman Zach Nunn, a Republican who represents Iowa’s third district, had hoped the U.S. House would vote on a version of the Farm Bill that won bipartisan approval in the House Ag Committee four months ago.
“I wrote a specific letter to the speaker of the House, asking that it come to a vote before we leave town,” Nunn said.
Congress is now on recess through November 12. Nunn said even if the House had taken action, the Senate Ag Committee hasn’t developed its version of the five-year Farm Bill. “We all know it takes two parties to tango on this and the reality is the Senate hasn’t even so much as jotted down on a napkin what their plan is going to be on the Farm Bill,” Nunn told reporters in Des Moines on Saturday.
Nunn acknowledged congress won’t revisit Farm Bill negotiations until after the election. “I think we’ve got an opportunity in the ‘lame duck’ session for Debbie Stabenow who’s the senior member on the Democratic side in the Senate to say what does she want her legacy to be: a legacy of passing a Farm Bill that helps not just Iowa farmers, but helps feed the entire country and fuel the world or do we want to have gridlock for no real reason,” Nunn said.
Lanon Baccam is the Democrat who’s running against Nunn in this year’s election.
Congressman Randy Feenstra, the Republican who represents Iowa’s fourth district, is also a member of the House Ag Committee. Feenstra said in a written statement released Monday that it’s been “nearly 130 days” since that committee passed its version of the Farm Bill. Feenstra said “given low commodity prices and declining farm income,” congress needs to approve a new Farm Bill to “deliver certainty and relief for…Iowa agriculture.” Ryan Melton, the Democrat who’s running against Feenstra, said on social media that Feenstra is serving in “the least productive U.S. House in modern history” and the Farm Bill is long overdue.
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