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Nebraska Farm Bureau officials disappointed by House action on farm bill

Nebraska Farm Bureau officials say they’re disheartened by the U.S. House’s failure to pass a farm bill. The House voted down a $500 billion dollar measure Thursday. Their version would have cut $3.8 billion in spending, mostly on the supplemental nutrition program.

It also would have expanded crop insurance programs. Nebraska Farm Bureau Director of National Affairs Jordan Dux says that’s critical. “Farmers most of the time go after a business loan or a planting loan, a production loan, that gets them through to be able to plant their crops and move on to the next year and then they pay part of that loan off or pay the whole loan off. And so bankers rely upon federal crop insurance and the importance of that to show that they’re making a wise investment in that farmer as well, and making sure that farmer can get the loan paid off.”

Dux says there will have to be changes to the supplemental nutrition funding item in the House farm bill for it to pass. He says that’s 80 percent of the spending in the measure, and Thursday’s vote showed “the farm part of the farm bill didn’t matter.”

The one-year extension of the farm bill expires September 30.