Congress is in observation mode, not action mode

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Congress is in observation mode, not action mode

The president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives says Congress is in observation mode rather than passing a new farm bill due to recent changes in the upcoming presidential campaign and other political developments.

“…It’s crazy. I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’ve never experienced anything even close to this.”

Chuck Conner tells Brownfield that House Democrats seem to want a new farm bill, but there are delays in the Senate. And by the end of next week, Conner says, lawmakers will be on recess until August and will prioritize budget planning when they return in September.

“With each passing day, it becomes less likely that these people will come together to work on this bill and get it done this year. We’re running out of time, we really are.”

Drafting a farm bill is not easy, but Conner says historically the differences are not that great.

“This should have been a farm bill that was relatively easy to pass and get through, but that just didn’t happen because there were so many political considerations that came into play. So many red lines like ‘you can’t cross that’ or ‘you can’t do that.'”

He says that the Senate is concerned with raw materials and nutrition and that there will probably not be a perfect compromise.

“The Senate needs to take up a bill, start the debate and see where it goes, rather than sit idle and wait for an elusive compromise that may or may not come soon.”

The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee has not scheduled any proposals for the new farm bill, and the U.S. House Agriculture Committee passed a corresponding bill at the end of May.