Page 67 - Farm Bill Series_The 7 Things You Should Know

Later that day, the farm bill was approved 15-5 by the Senate Agriculture Committee with a
much different mix of votes than in 2011. This time, it was three Midwestern Republicans,
Roberts, Thune and Johanns, who opposed the bill, along with Mitch McConnell and one
Democrat, Kirstin Gillibrand.

Chairman Stabenow had lost some of her strongest Midwestern advocates, but she gained
Southern support that could presumably pave the way for compromise with House Agriculture
Committee Chairman Lucas.

But that didn’t stop the three Midwestern senators from trying to modify the bill. When the bill
was considered on the Senate floor in early June, Thune offered a similar amendment to focus
AMP only on rice and peanuts. Once again, he was defeated.
The Senate approved its five-year farm bill (S. 954) on June 10, 2013, with a strong bipartisan
66-27 vote.

Eighteen Republican senators joined 46 Democrats and two Independents in approving the bill.

Two Democrats – Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. – joined 25 Republicans
in voting against the bill. The two Democrats likely broke ranks due to objections over proposed
cuts to SNAP.

Committee ranking member Cochran applauded passage of the bill.

“The Senate has produced a farm bill that meets the needs of those involved in agriculture
production and the consumers of the crops produced by American farmers and ranchers,”
Cochran said. “American agriculture producers deserve the certainty that comes with a strong
five-year farm bill. I’m pleased that we’ve come up with a bill that will meet that need.”

In voting against the 2013 farm bill, Roberts said the legislation was “a return to trade and
market distorting policies of the past, does not represent reforms achieved in last year’s Senate
passed bill and does not cut enough wasteful spending.”
On the House side, the farm bill was once again advancing in committee. Yet, some of the same
arguments were still surfacing.

The bill was approved by 36-10 in the House Ag Committee on May 16, 2013. It was largely
similar to the bill passed by the committee in the previous year by a 35-11 margin, with larger
cuts in the nutrition title and minor changes in farm safety net programs.

“No one on this committee is going to like everything in this bill,” Lucas noted. “But
farmers, ranchers and the American taxpayers are counting on us to pass a farm bill.”

Rep. Bob Gibbs, one of the 11 who voted “no” on the bill, called the commodity title “drastically
unfair to Ohio farmers” because target prices were set so high for certain crops.

The full House finally took up the farm bill debate on June 19. Most of the focus was on finding
218 votes to secure final passage and start a conference with the Senate. With over 100
amendments, there were plenty of ways the bill could once again be derailed. For Southerners,
Amendment Two – offered by Gibbs and Wisconsin’s Ron Kind – demanded their attention and
opposition.
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