The debate rages on about the amount of funding that should be devoted to the farm bill.  Farm state legislators want to protect the farm policy programs that include conservation, while urban legislators want more money devoted to nutrition assistance programs like SNAP and WIC.  Part of the problem is the USDA has requested up to $250 billion dollars more to go to SNAP.  Some farm state legislators believe the extra money to go to nutrition assistance programs will mean less money for the traditional farm programs.  As long as there have been farm bills, conservation and farm policies and nutritional assistance programs have been categorized in one farm bill.  U-S Senator Chuck Grassley was asked during his weekly news conference, if there would be congressional support for two separate farm bills, one devoted to nutritional programs, while the other strictly focused on farm policy and conservation programs.

Grassley says urban legislators probably wouldn’t support a farm bill dealing with only farm-related policies and conservation provisions.