Senate passes Farm Bill

by Tim Leeds

The U.S. Senate passed a Farm Bill Thursday on an 86-11 vote, with multiple groups praising the bill and the support of both Montana senators.

The bill now will have to be reconciled with the House version of the bill, which narrowly passed on a second try June 21 with Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., one of the 213 representatives voting for it.

The bill had 211 voting against it. No Democrats voted for the bill.

It failed on a 198 to 213 vote May 18 with Gianforte voting for it.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who sits on the Senate agriculture committee that crafted and passed the bill on to the floor, praised the passage of the Senate bill.

"This Farm Bill is good news for Montana farmers and ranchers and will help provide certainty for Montana agriculture in these difficult times," Daines said on the floor of the Senate after the bill passed. "I am looking forward to upcoming conference negotiations with the House to get an effective and efficient Farm Bill to the desk of the President as quickly as possible."

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. the Senate's only active farmer, also touted the bill.

"This Farm Bill works for Montana because it protects crop insurance, strengthens the safety net, supports responsible conservation, and invests in rural America," said Tester, who farms the land west of Big Sandy his grandparents homesteaded. "It gives family farmers and ranchers long-term certainty and provides them with access to what they need to stay on the land and build strong futures."

Gianforte said the House version addresses critical needs of Montana farmers and ranchers. 

"I've listened to Montana farmers and ranchers since last year, and worked on their behalf on the new Farm Bill. I'm proud to vote today for the Farm Bill that has Montana's fingerprints on it," Gianforte said in a release upon the passage of the House bill."The Farm Bill strengthens the safety net for Montana farmers and ranchers, provides them with greater certainty, improves the health of our forests, and gets Montanans back to work."

One of the key criticisms of the House version is its restrictions on nutrition programs, primarily the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, which helps more than 40 million people in the United States buy food.

Part of the program is requiring able-bodied adults ages 18-49 without children to work 20 hours a week to maintain their benefits in SNAP. The House bill raises the top age of recipients subject to work requirements from 49 to 59 and requires parents with children older than 6 to work or participate in job training.

Government auditors estimate that the number of people in SNAP would within 10 years drop by about 1.2 million people in an average month if the bill becomes law.

The bill also limits circumstances under which families who qualify for other poverty programs can automatically be eligible for SNAP. It earmarks $1 billion to expand work training programs.

While the Senate version aims to reduce fraud in SNAP, but doesn't cut funding from the program.

"We improve the SNAP program by providing integrity," Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said prior to Thursday's vote. "By cutting bonuses, modernizing the verification process, we increase accountability in employment and training programs, we put SNAP participants on the path to employment."

After the bill's passage, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas, congratulated his counterparts in the Senate on a "hard-won victory" and said he looks forward to "working together to send a strong new farm bill to the president's desk."

The president of Montana Farmers Union praised the passage of the Senate bill.

"The Senate's version of the Farm Bill adequately addresses the needs of Montana farmers and ranchers through provisions for crop insurance, conservation and nutrition programs and rural development," Alan Merrill of Big Sandy said in in a statement released today. "We are encouraged by its passage and look forward to swift action as it moves to conference."

The House bill also had strong support from several organizations. Gianforte's release about the bill's passage cited endorsements from American Farm Bureau Federation, the Public Lands Council, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

It also received praise from the Motnana Farm Bureau Federation.

"As a farm organization that has been watching the development of the Farm Bill closely, we are ecstatic," MFBF President Hans McPherson said in a statement June 22. "This version of the farm bill, called the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, is aptly named because the majority of funding is used to provide food for people in need."

The Farm Bureau Thursday also said it was pleased the Senate bill passed.

The Montana Farm Bureau is pleased the 2018 Farm Bill has passed the Senate.

"Today is a great day because the 2018 Farm Bill has passed the Senate in a timely manner," MFBF President Hans McPherson said in a press release. "We are very thankful for Senator Jon Tester and Senator Steve Daines' support of this bill. Farmers and ranchers face a challenging agricultural economy and are concerned about our export markets. At least the passage of this bill is some bright news for ag."

American Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall said, "Chairman Roberts and Ranking Member Stabenow worked with other members of the Senate Agriculture Committee to deliver a bill that will continue to provide the risk management tools that America's farmers need more than ever before. And the fact that Leader McConnell agreed this should be a legislative priority helped move this very important bill forward in the Senate."

"Of course, no bill is ever perfect, but this bipartisan effort gives us a solid framework for progress," said Duvall. "We do have concerns about some of the provisions that were added to the bill that make it harder for farmers to manage risk, but we are confident that those issues can be satisfactorily addressed by the House/Senate conference committee. We look forward to working with conferees from both houses to get the best possible farm bill done for rural America."

Multiple statements have come out against the House bill, including from Tester.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Farm Bill last week that cuts funding for successful agriculture initiatives, as well as hunger relief for kids and seniors, his release Thursday said. It said the senatorr is demanding the House of Representatives stop playing politics with the Farm Bill, and pass the Senate's version of the legislation as soon as possible.

"The House must stop making political hay out of the Farm Bill because Montana farmers and ranchers need certainty," Tester added.  "Folks should stay at work until this bill is on the President's desk." 

The Montana Food Bank Network decried the bill's restrictions on SNAP, saying in a press release that the bill makes "harsh and indiscriminate cuts to SNAP."

SNAP helps more than 120,000 Montanans keep food on the table, including 1 in 5 children, supporting improved health outcomes and educational attainment. In addition, SNAP provides stability for 1 in 12 Montana workers, filling the gap when incomes fall short.

"The Senate Committee's commitment to bipartisanship on this vital piece of legislation stands in stark contrast to the efforts of the U.S. House to undermine one of our nation's most powerful and effective poverty-reduction programs," MFBN CEO Gayle Carlson said. "Montana's food pantries and other emergency food providers see firsthand the struggles that people face in our state."

The release added that SNAP helps more than 120,000 Montanans buy food, including 1 in 5 children in the state and 1 in 12 Montana workers.

Several other organizations also expressed support for the Senate bill, including Montana Wilderness Association and Center for Rural Affairs, although that group had reservations about some provisions of the bill.

Daines and Tester both cited provisions of the bill they said would help Montana, including Daines listing safety net programs such as crop insurance and the sugar program; ag research funding for land grant universities, such as Montana State University and ag research stations across Montana; prioritization of rural broadband for Montana's unserved communities; an important vaccine bank to help better respond to animal disease outbreaks and support for and maintenance of conservation programs.

Daines release said the senator was able to secure other amendments, including the Hemp Farming Act, which Daines has cosponsored. This provision would legalize hemp, which can be used in a wide-range of consumer goods, food, and other products, as an agricultural commodity and remove it from the list of controlled substances to help Montana farmers have access to another potential cash crop and remove a one-size-fits-all federal mandate, his release said.

Tester's release said he strongly supported several provisions in the bill, including that it:

• Reauthorizes and keeps intact both Price Loss Coverage and Ag Risk Coverage (ARC) insurance.

• Keeps the popular Conservation Stewardship Program intact.

• Amends the Environmental Quality Incentive Program to better work for Montana producers.

• Increases the maximum acreage of the Conservation Reserve Program.

• Directs the USDA Secretary to more actively fight the spread of Foot and Mouth Disease.

• Protects sugar policies that have been successfully utilized in the current Farm Bill.

• Reauthorizes the Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative, which is vital to the mission of the Northern Plains Research Lab in Sidney.

• Mandates funding for the National Organic Certification Cost Share Program.

• Removes hemp from the list of controlled substances, enabling it to be sold as a commodity.

• Consolidates the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Program to create a new trade promotion initiative.

• Reauthorizes critical USDA Rural Development Grants that are used to rebuild and construct water and wastewater infrastructure and expand access to high-speed internet in rural areas.

Tester also attached a bipartisan amendment to the Senate Farm Bill that provides state and local Farm Service Agency Committees with the ability to identify new ARC boundaries in large, rural counties, his release sai..  This amendment will better reflect crop and growing conditions for farmers enrolled in ARC crop insurance.

In his release about the House bill, Gianforte cited the work requirements of SNAP as well as reauthorizing and strengthening the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage options through 2023. authorizing National Animal Health Vaccine Bank to prioritize federal resources for Foot-and-Mouth Disease preparedness and allowing U.S. Forest Service to improve federal forests by reducing fuel banks to create healthier forests and reduce the severity of wildfires.

The release said Gianforte provided two amendments which were approved and passed in the final bill. One extends Good Neighbor Authority to county governments. Currently, only state governments can enter into agreements to perform forest management services on National Forest System lands. Gianforte's amendment allows the U.S. Forest Service to enter into agreements with county governments. The National Association of Counties supported this amendment.

  Gianforte's other amendment allows for expedited salvage operations for dead and dying trees in areas burned by wildfire. It also requires reforestation of at least 75 percent of the burned area.