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Senate Ag Committee member hearing House farm bill “isn’t bipartisan”

An Ag Committee member in the U.S. Senate is concerned the House version of the farm bill won’t be bipartisan.

Minnesota Democrat Tina Smith tells Brownfield.

“We are aware that the House (ag) committee looks like they might be getting ready to mark up a bill. My best information right now is that isn’t a bipartisan bill, which of course makes it a lot harder to move forward. But at least there’s some discussion of getting to markup.”

She says Senate Ag Committee leadership continues to look for common ground.

“I hope that everyone understands that this isn’t going to get easier as we move through this big election year, it’s only going to get harder. So better to get things done right now, be nice to make progress in May for sure.”

Smith says in both chambers there’s bipartisan agreement on a lot of farm bill issues, but the major sticking points remain funding for the nutrition, conservation, and commodity titles.