Sen. Stabenow: It’s time to pass a farm bill

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) called for negotiations on the next farm bill.

Details: In a blog post, Stabenow said lawmakers should end the politics around the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, saying that year-to-year changes in SNAP spending do not take funds away from other farm bill programs.

State of Play:

• Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member John Boozman (R-Ark.) recently released the Senate Republican framework for the next farm bill, which he said shares common ground with Democratic counterparts on key priorities.

• Boozman’s framework builds on the momentum from the House Agriculture Committee’s passage of its version of the farm bill last month.

• Stabenow last month released a section-by-section breakdown of her farm bill priorities and said she would like to negotiate with Republicans before her committee schedules a markup.

ICBA View: Following the House markup, ICBA said the House bill has numerous positive enhancements, such as commodity price and crop insurance supports, though there are concerning provisions. For instance, the bill contains ICBA-opposed provisions to expand the Farm Credit System’s nonfarm lending authority and disparate regulatory treatment, which ICBA has been the only national banking trade group to weigh in against.

Grassroots Push: ICBA continues encouraging community banks to use its Be Heard grassroots action center to call and write their members of Congress on the industry’s farm bill priorities as the debate continues.