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Thompson: farm bill will need more time

The chairman of the House Agriculture Committee says appropriations shouldn’t complicate the farm bill process much when lawmakers return to Washington D.C., but the bill will need more time.

Glenn “GT” Thompson told reporters before Monday’s farm bill roundtable discussion at the Missouri State Fair…

“The authorization on the appropriating side, that will get back on track as those who are responsible for that bill and leadership take a look at what some of the concerns were and why the bill didn’t generate the support it needed.”

He says the appropriations bill can compete for floor time with the farm bill in September.

“I hope they don’t continue to run into problems, but if they do, it could open up a week for us to address the farm bill.”

Thompson tells Brownfield some progress is being made finding money to improve existing farm bill programs.

“It is important in this fiscally challenging environment we’re in to be creative and look to where we start to shift funding from various parts of government to strengthen the farm bill.”

He also says there are opportunities to incorporate a more permanent solution for disasters into crop insurance.

Thompson adds a draft farm bill language should be ready by the end of August and a short extension of the current bill will be needed.