Agricultural News
With Strong Cloture Vote- Senate Farm Bill Set for Passage on Monday Afternoon
Fri, 07 Jun 2013 07:26:39 CDT
For the second time in as many years, it appears that Senator Debbie Stabenow has shown she can bring it- at least when it comes to a five year farm bill. In a strong showing of support, the U.S. Senate voted 75-22 on yesterday morning to close off debate on amendments to the farm bill and move ahead to final debate on the legislation and one more vote that is expected for around 4:30 PM central time on Monday afternoon.
Thursday's cloture vote means that Stabenow and her ranking member, Thad Cochran, control the number of amendments warrant debate. Twenty-two Republicans joined 53 Democrats in voting for the bill. All 22 votes opposing the cloture vote were Republicans.
And according to Politico, it got the attention of House Speaker John Boehner has reiterated the plan to debate the Farm Bill in the US House the week of June 17th. "I think is important for the House to work its will on the farm bill," Boehner told reporters Thursday. "I'm hopeful that we can pass a Farm Bill and get to conference with the Senate and resolve this issue for America's farmers and ranchers."
You can read the entire Politico story by clicking here.
Pam Johnson, President of the National Corn Growers, was one ag leader who quickly offered praise for the Senate vote- "The National Corn Growers Association is pleased to see the cloture vote on the farm bill received 75 votes, well over the 60 votes necessary to move the legislation forward. However, there is still important work that needs to be done. We urge the Senate to quickly take action and vote to pass the legislation."
As you might expect- not everyone is a happy camper. For example- you have the Environmental Working Group.
Scott Faber, EWG's Senior Vice President for Government Affairs, said: "We are truly disappointed in the Senate leadership for its refusal to consider common-sense reforms to the bloated federal crop insurance program. We were confident that the Senate would have overwhelmingly supported reforms to limit crop insurance premium subsidies and windfall profits for the largest and most successful farm businesses and to make subsidies more transparent so taxpayers are no longer left in the dark. Such reforms to strengthen the crop insurance program would have made final passage of the farm bill more likely. We look forward to the adoption of these reforms in the House, when it takes up the bill later this month."
In advance of the Cloture vote- Senator Stabenow and Cochran offered an overview one more time to their colleagues. You can see that by clicking on the PLAY button in the video box below.
Click here for the Senate Ag Committee version of the Farm Bill- there have been several amendments added to the measure already on the floor and they are not included here.
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