Washington Report: House of Representatives Passes Modified Farm Bill

The scaled-back version of the Farm Bill does not include any provisions related to the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP).

July 12, 2013

WASHINGTON – In an unorthodox chain of events, the House of Representatives yesterday passed an “agriculture-only” Farm Bill that does not address federal food assistance programs. The scaled-back version of the bill, which usually contains both agriculture and food assistance provisions, was only introduced by Republicans on July 10. The original House Farm Bill, which contained both farm policy and food assistance programs, unexpectedly failed on the House floor in June.  

The House can now move forward to a conference with the Senate, which passed a bipartisan Farm Bill on June 10. During conference, the two chambers will attempt to resolve differences in their respective bills. It remains unclear if and when such a conference will take place. Further complicating matters is the prospect that the House legislation may not contain any provisions regarding SNAP and other food assistance programs. House leadership has indicated that it plans to bring up a separate bill pertaining to these programs and then merge it with the bill that was passed yesterday, but it’s unclear if a food assistance-only bill would pass. The Senate, for its part, will likely insist that any conference committee consider food assistance provisions in addition to the agriculture provisions, which could make ultimate passage in the House more difficult.

The Senate Farm Bill contains a provision that NACS opposes, which allows the Department of Agriculture to limit convenience stores’ ability to accept food stamps based on the volume of sales of other goods within the store. These goods include hot food, alcohol and tobacco products. If the full House ultimately considers a food assistance Farm Bill, it will not contain this provision. NACS will continue urging lawmakers to strike the offensive Senate provision if and when the two chambers proceed to a conference.

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