URGENT FARM BILL UPDATE

Tricia Braid

May 17, 2018  |  Today's News |  Legislation & Regulation |  Farm Policy

The House Rules Committee last night decided on the list of amendments that would be allowed for floor debate on the next farm bill. You can find the current farm bill legislation, H.R. 2 – Agriculture and Nutrition Action of 2018, including all current amendments here.

 

IL Corn is closely following the process of the House farm bill. We appreciate your calls to members of the House regarding preserving crop insurance and voting against any amendments that weaken the crop insurance program. Please continue to make those calls through the end of the week. We expect floor debate to continue through Friday.

 

Of note is an amendment by Representative McClintock (R-CA) that would phase out all agricultural subsidies. This includes crop insurance subsidies. IL Corn OPPOSES the McClintock amendment to phase out all agricultural subsidies. To take it one step further, IL Corn will OPPOSE passage of the farm bill in total if the McClintock amendment passes and becomes part of the House legislation.

 

The timeline for consideration of H.R. 2 is as follows:

Starting today (May 17) around noon central time, floor debate will continue.

Late this afternoon (May 17) around 4:30 or 5 pm central, votes will be taken.

On May 18, floor debate will continue with a final vote expected by early evening.

 

NOTE: The Senate still has not marked up their version of farm legislation. It is expected by early June. The process would be for the Senate to pass their version, and then the two would head to conference. It is the Senate’s turn to chair the conference committee process.