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Ag groups want farm bill movement

An ag lobbyist says the pressure is mounting for Congress to finish a farm bill before the end of the year.

Tom Sell with Combest, Sell, and Associates says he questions the timing of Senator Stabenow’s bill introduced this week.

“If she tried to work that bill up through a committee, it would have real challenges and it would get changed dramatically,” he says. “I don’t think she’s going to do that. I think she’s just laying it out there as a marker. I don’t think it was necessarily constructive. I don’t know why she waited this long.”

AUDIO: Tom Sell, Combest, Sell, and Associates

National Farmers Union President Rob Larew says getting something done will be difficult over the next four weeks.

“When we have the Majority Leader in the Senate, potentially even President-elect Trump, signaling that it’s time to get the farm bill off of the agenda, move it on, get that certainty out there for farmers, big things can happen,” he says. “Right now, we’re hearing unfortunately a lot of talk about an extension.”

AUDIO: Rob Larew, NFU

American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall says farm income dropped 30 percent in two years and the nation’s farmers and ranchers cannot afford to wait any longer for good federal policy.

Following the release of the Senate Ag Committee Chairwomen’s farm bill text Monday, Ranking Member John Boozman and other Republicans expressed frustration with what they call the bill’s partisan nature.

The U.S. House Ag Committee says Speaker Mike Johnson and Republican leaders have rejected the farm bill proposal from Senator Stabenow and are planning for an extension before the end of the year.