12-11 IAT Farm Bill

I keep saying to myself that the system is broken as it relates to politics on a national level. I don't believe in my lifetime, I have ever seen such a vast divide between the two dominant parties. If the President says cold, the other side of the aisle immediately says hot. Now consider the fact that without farmers and ranchers in this country, almost nobody here would eat to say nothing of a vast portion of the rest of the world. Where am I going? The farm bill. Unless Congress does something about it - the farm bill will expire at the end of this year. Farmers and ranchers have literally been waiting for years for a new farm bill. With only a handful of working days left on the schedule this year for Congress - American Farm Bureau Public Policy Director Dale Moore says the outlook of it happening this year is tenuous: "We are going on three years now waiting for a new farm till to get done. From the standpoint of time running out this year, we are back to hoping and praying that we can get something done, if not before the 13th then hopefully the House and Senate go into a little bit of overtime before the year is over and maybe we will see that something gets done by Christmas."

But there is more than just the question of whether Congress will get it done before the latest extension of the current bill expires at the end of the year. "Half the questions I get from reporters these days focus on our is the farm bill going to be part of the budget negotiations? We don't have a clue. We keep hearing at but we are also hopeful that the Farm Bill in itself will get wrapped up this year and that is looking dicey."