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Farm bill clock ticking, partisan rumors concerning

The clock is ticking on a new farm bill.   

Jonathan Coppess, director of the Gardner Agriculture Policy Program at the University of Illinois, says…

“We’re midway through April, we haven’t seen even the first real steps towards doing anything.”  He says, “There are of course rumors as always coming out of DC.”

He says the partisan nature of many of those rumors, especially in the House, is concerning.

“I mean, I think what we’ve seen on the House floor thus far is it’s going to take a fairly large bipartisan vote to get anything through that chamber,” he says.

Coppess tells Brownfield the legislative calendar also poses a challenge.

“I don’t think you see anything really moving past July then the campaign season takes over.”  He says, “So, we are looking at a pretty short window to work with between now and Memorial Day, and then probably that stretch of June before the 4th of July holiday. Those are the key time frames to do anything.”

He says it’s becoming more likely a farm bill extension, or even multi-year extension, could be Congress’ best solution.  The current farm bill expires at the end of September.

AUDIO: Jonathan Coppess – Associate Professor at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign