The third time was the charm, as the House and then the Senate passed stopgap funding legislation with farm and disaster aid to avert a midnight Friday government shutdown late last week.
The legislation passed 366 to 34, clearing a two-thirds ‘yes’ vote threshold to speed passage and send the package to the Senate for final okay as a midnight shutdown deadline neared.
Farm groups, led by the American Farm Bureau, prevailed in a last minute high-pressure campaign to include economic help for struggling producers. House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole.
Cole echoed the call of ag groups that said the aid was necessary to save family farms in danger of failing amid yet another extension of the 2018 farm bill.
The package also included $21 billion in farm disaster aid but did not okay national year-round E15 sales. Separately, USDA freed up some $300 million for distressed direct and guaranteed farm loan borrowers.
And on a trade note, a dispute panel ruled that Mexico violated the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement when its former president ordered a ban on genetically modified corn imports.
