On July 5, Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-MN) of the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee released a discussion draft of the House Farm Bill, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (FARRM). Follow this link for a copy of the draft bill, or this link for a short summary provided by the Committee.
According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the draft legislation would generate $35 billion in savings over the next ten years with reductions in spending of over $16 billion from the nutrition programs, over $14 billion in savings from farm programs, including reductions to commodity subsidies and increases to crop insurance subsidies, as well as $6 billion from conservation programs. This would generate an additional $12 billion in savings compared to the Senate bill (S. 3240), which was passed on June 21. Virtually all of this additional savings is from cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program). Follow this link for the CBO summary of the House draft bill.
The House Agriculture Committee is scheduled to mark-up this legislation beginning on Wednesday, July 11, at 10:00am. Follow this link for more information on the mark-up, and to access the live webcast.
To learn more about the farm bill, we encourage you to check in with the following organizations for additional information and perspectives:
Feeding America – Hunger Action Center
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition