Farm bill fails as Republicans fight over immigration

Trump had praised its work requirement for food stamp recipients.

WASHINGTON — In a major political setback, House Republicans failed Friday to pass an $867-billion farm bill that aimed to impose strict new work requirements on food stamp recipients.

Conservatives refused to support the measure unless House leaders agreed to hold a vote immediately on a separate immigration bill.

The unraveling of the farm measure on the House f loor was an embarrassment for GOP leaders, who had expressed confidence that they could pass the traditionally bipartisan farm bill without Democrats’ support. The new restrictions on food stamp aid, which threaten to expel millions of recipients from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, drove Democrats to oppose the measure.

The bill failed by a vote of 198 to 213.

The rebellion of the conservative House Freedom Caucus signaled renewed fissures within the GOP as the midterm congressional election approaches.

It was also a setback for President Trump, who had crusaded for the farm bill, lauding the measure’s work requirements.

Democrats cheered when the measure failed.

“Republicans wrote a cruel, destructive farm bill that abandoned farmers and producers amid plummeting farm prices and the self-inflicted damage of President Trump’s trade brinkmanship,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said in a statement. “Their heartless bill would have slashed $23 billion in SNAP benefits for children, seniors, students, 1.5 million veterans, 23,000 servicemembers, individuals with disabilities and working families.”

She called for the GOP to return to the tradition of crafting a bipartisan farm bill.

Freedom Caucus members broke with GOP leadership over their demands that the House take up their immigration and border security bills. The conservatives said they would not cast votes for the farm bill unless lawmakers were also given a chance to vote now on a restrictive immigration measure that they and Trump back. House leaders instead called a June vote on the immigration bill.

Meanwhile, a group of moderate Republicans is gaining support and working with Democrats in an effort to force a vote on four immigration bills that include paths to citizenship for so-called Dreamers.

The unraveling of the farm bill makes it more likely that the GOP leadership will be unable to stop an open floor debate on immigration measures.

Republicans are vowing they will get a five-year farm bill measure passed by the end of September, when the existing farm bill expires.