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Grassley hopes Senate farm bill goes to committee this week

Senate Ag Committee member Chuck Grassley of Iowa says there’s hope among his colleagues that the farm bill will go to Senate conference committee this week, “It’s a very important process and very important step to get to finality on a new farm bill.”

The Senate farm bill passed with strong bipartisan support while the House farm bill squeaked by with Republican votes only.

Grassley says there’s much to like in the Senate version, including a reasonable approach to the Conservation Reserve Program, CRP. It also “incorporates my commonsense payment limitation which also enjoyed wide-ranging bipartisan support. And it has some thoughtful reforms to the food stamp program (SNAP) that every Democrat in the Senate voted for.”

Grassley told reporters this morning he doesn’t understand why some commodity groups and lawmakers disagree on his payment limit proposal, “I’ve never had anybody articulate to me why a half a million-dollar limit isn’t reasonable.” The House farm bill was sent to conference committee a few weeks ago.