Senate votes to renew farm programs; House likely to pass

WASHING TON» The Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday for a sweeping agriculture bill that will fund key farm safety net programs for the next five years without making significant changes to the food stamp program.

The vote was 87-13. The House is expected to pass the measure soon and send it to President Donald Trump for his signature.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell brought the bill up for a quick vote Tuesday, less than one day after the House and Senate reached an agreement on the final text.

The measure is the result of months of negotiations, and does not make any significant changes — despite pressure from Trump — to the food stamp program that serves nearly 40 million low-income Americans.

“This is what happens when the Congress works in a bipartisan, bicameral fashion,” Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said before the vote. “It’s a good bill that accomplishes what we set out to do: provide certainty and predictability for farmers and families in rural communities.”

The legislation sets federal agricultural and food policy for five years and provides more than $400 billion in farm subsidies, conservation programs and food aid for the poor. It reauthorizes crop insurance and conservation programs and funds trade programs, bioenergy production and organic farming research. It also reduces the cost for struggling dairy producers to sign up for support programs and legalizes the cultivation of industrial hemp, an initiative championed by McConnell.

One thing the bill doesn’t have: tighter work requirements for food stamp recipients, a provision of the House bill that became a major sticking point during negotiations.

“We maintain a strong safety net for farmers and importantly, we maintain a strong safety net for our families,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., the most senior Democrat on the agriculture committee. “We said no to harmful changes that would take food away from families, and instead increased program integrity and job training to be able to make sure things should be working as they should and every dollar is used as it should be.”

The House bill would have raised the age of recipients subject to work requirements from 49 to 59 and required parents with children older than 6 years to work or participate in job training. The House measure also sought to limit circumstances under which families who qualify for other poverty programs can automatically be eligible for SNAP, and earmarked $1 billion to expand worktraining programs.