It?s another setback for the possibility of increased farm bill funding for commodity programs. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says the Ag Committees are hemmed in on farm bill spending by the Congressional Budget Office and appropriators setting parameters after the debt ceiling deal.
Grassley says that follows an assessment by Ag Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) earlier in the week.
Agri-Pulse reports Stabenow told farm groups, costs for fertilizer and diesel have dropped sharply since last year and groups differ regionally on changes needed to ARC and PLC supports. Ranking Ag Republican John Boozman (R-AR) refuses to back a farm bill without higher PLC supports.
Grassley adds that lawmakers may be stuck with figures for SNAP?more than 80 percent of the farm bill?that overshoot food stamp spending by more than two billion dollars.
House Ag leaders in the meantime, continued to sharply disagree on SNAP spending. Chair GT Thompson (R-PA 15th District), and then ranking Democrat David Scott (D-GA 13th District).
House GOP appropriators were already advancing increased work requirements for able-bodied adults without children, even before the debt limit deal did so and to cut spending elsewhere for agriculture.
