WE ARE PLEASED WITH THE SENATE WORK ON THE FARM BILL

Lindsay Mitchell

May 24, 2013  |  Today's News

“The Senate debated the farm bill this week and we are pleased with the time they spent on our issues and the progress they have made thus far,” said Paul Taylor, Illinois Corn Growers Association President.

Though the Senate has now adjourned for a Memorial Day break, they plan to finish discussing the farm bill when they return on June 3, with preliminary reports indicating that we might expect a final vote on June 5.

The current question is what to do with the hundreds of amendments to the legislation that the Senate must consider. Some have been debated, but hundreds still remain. When the body comes to an agreement on how many amendments they will consider, meaningful progress can be made.

IL Corn hopes for an agreement on the number of amendments to come first thing on June 3. When the amendments considered are narrowed down to a manageable number, and when most of those amendments actually deal with policy issues surrounding farming, agriculture, and the proposed farm policy, we expect a final farm bill to come quickly.

“There are some amendments that concern us, specifically amendments that could negatively affect crop insurance,” said Taylor. “We aim to keep our membership up to date on these issues and will advise them to call our Senators when needed. Regardless, the bill must be conferenced with the House farm bill so we hope we could eliminate detrimental policy through that process.”

The House may begin their floor debate on the farm bill around the middle of June. Similar to the Senate, they will likely have hundreds of amendments, both germane and not, to consider before reaching a final bill.