The long-awaited farm bill from Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), the third-ranked Senate Democrat and chairwoman of the chamber’s Agriculture Committee was introduced Monday, just weeks before benefits will run dry at year’s end. But more is riding this go-around on the $1.
5 trillion legislation that sets agriculture and nutrition policy every five years: it’s been operating on an extension for more than a year, chief Democratic architect Stabenow is retiring, and Republicans will soon control Washington. “The foundation of every successful Farm Bill is built on holding together the broad, bipartisan Farm Bill coalition,” Stabenow said in a statement. “This is a strong bill that invests in all of agriculture, helps families put food on the table, supports rural prosperity, and holds that coalition together.
” Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), the panel’s top Republican set to take over as chairman when the GOP majority is seated in January, assailed the legislation and its timing as “insulting.” “An 11th-hour partisan proposal released 415 days after the expiration of the current farm bill is insulting,” Boozman said in a statement.
“America’s farmers deserve better.” Industry opponents, such as the National Pork Producers Council, called Stabenow’s proposal “not a viable bill, as it fails to provide a solution to California Prop. 12,” which regulates the confinement of breeding pigs.
Conversely, MAZON, a non-profit that combats food insecurity, said in.