Nebraska’s senior U.S. Senator says Congress needs to work out a new, five-year farm bill.
Senator Mike Johanns says there are significant differences between the Senate bill and what the U.S. House could vote on. One difference is the amount the two bills would cut from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The House could vote this week on a bill that cuts $40 billion from SNAP.
Johanns says it’s time for a conference committee to work out the differences.
"The Senate passed a long-term farm bill earlier this year that addressed both the farm and nutrition programs. The House is delaying appointing conferees until the nutrition part of the bill is addressed. It is my hope that this will happen soon so we can get to a Conference Committee and start working on the differences, and there will be differences between the House and the Senate bill."
The current one-year extension of the farm bill expires September 30th. Johanns says without new legislation, ag markets could be affected as soon as January.
Johanns’ comments came Thursday during his weekly conference call with Nebraska media.