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Grassley not too concerned about ag impacts of government shutdown

A long time U.S. Senator is not too concerned about immediate impacts to agriculture if the government shuts down.

Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley says most farm bill programs would continue operating as normal.

“The reference prices are going to go on until the end of the year, (Conservation Reserve) contracts continue to be paid, crop insurance doesn’t have any problems, SNAP doesn’t have any problems I think until November 1st.”

On a call with reporters Wednesday morning, he suggested government shutdowns are short-sighted.

“It costs money to shut down the government (and) it costs money to open up the government. We have people that are thinking you’re going to save money when you don’t pay workers who aren’t working, but we’ve always backfilled that when we’ve opened up government again.”

Congress has until Saturday to prevent a government shutdown that would furlough millions of federal employees.