Farm Bill and Spending Bill Warning
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. A key Senate Democrat issued a warning to House Republicans to avoid two new shutdown threats early next year in the just-enacted stopgap funding and farm bill extension.
Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, of Washington state, reluctantly voted for the unprecedented stopgap with new shutdown deadlines of January 19th and February 2nd, but warned …
MURRAY … “If we don’t want to be right back here in a few weeks, facing a one-two-punch shutdown threat, we need all of us to get serious about one-year full spending bills.”
A tall order given the House GOP’s internal spending fights and demands that Senate Democrats agree to deeper cuts than the President and Speaker settled on in the spring …
MURRAY … “So, I have an important message for Speaker Johnson and the House Republicans: We can only get these spending bills done if we are all on the same page when it comes to the topline numbers.”
The farm bill meantime, according to Iowa Senator Chuck
Grassley, will have to compete for floor time and a packed calendar of election year distractions …
GRASSLEY … “It’d be my goal to push to get it done, and I would hope every member of the Senate and House Ag committees would get it done because if it doesn’t get done early in the year, it’s not going to be done. Another extension has to occur if we don’t get it done early next year.”
The just-enacted extension continues authorizations for “most” farm programs.
