Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman (R-Arkansas) continues to work with members of that committee on the Senate version of the Farm bill in hopes of taking up and approving the measure prior to the Congressional August recess. The timing means the markup would take place between July 13 and Aug. 7, according to the Senate legislative calendar. The House passed its version last month.
Text of the proposed farm legislation is set to be released in the next couple of weeks, Boozman told reporters on Capitol Hill. The chairman indicates that he doesn’t expect language to allow year-round sales of E15 ethanol fuel blends to be included since it’s not in his committee’s jurisdiction. He also pointed out the problems the House had with its ethanol bill, which was ultimately passed by the chamber last month, which he doesn’t want to hold up progress on the FarmBill.
While the Farm Bill has traditionally been largely a bipartisan product, efforts by democrats to soften the shifting of the costs of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to states remains a contentious issue. Boozman said the Ag Committee is “limited as to what we can do, but we’re certainly talking to our counterparts, trying to figure out a path forward.”
Democrats including Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the committee’s ranking member, are pressing to postpone the scheduled cost shifts, while Boozman and other Republicans have held firm that they are needed to address payment errors and fix the system.