Senate Ag committee chairwoman Debbie Stabenow blasted House GOP leaders during a speech on the Senate floor for ongoing inaction on a five-year farm bill. On Wednesday, taking a stronger tone than normal, Stabenow said she is "appalled" that Speaker John Boehner has done nothing to move it forward.
"The 16-Million people across America who work because of agriculture, deserve to be a priority." Stabenow said the question isn't whether the House and Senate Ag leaders can come together on a commodity title, because she says they can and they will. She says the question is, "Whether or not as we are seeing efforts to being worked on for a larger deficit reduction package, whether the House leadership will think rural America and agriculture are important enough to include. That's the question."
Stabenow pointed out that it's been 80 days since the 2008 farm bill expired. The Senate-passed farm bill and the House Ag-approved farm bill propose significant budget savings, but aides to Boehner tell Politico that the speaker doesn't want to include a farm bill in a fiscal cliff package for fear of losing more Republican votes.
Source: Agriculture Today