House Ag Committee Chairman Michael Conaway says the House farm bill will be on the floor as soon as he can convince the leadership he has the 218 votes needed for passage. He says on Friday he’ll be holding a listening session on the bill, which has not had bi-partisan support due to SNAP reform.
Conaway rebutted Democratic criticism that the work provisions tied to SNAP were never discussed prior to the Chairman offering the draft.
He says the Democrats can argue about the process all they want, but they refused to engage back in March saying the SNAP reform was non-negotiable. Now Conaway says they’re not offering any amendments to improve the bill.
Ranking Committee Member Collin Peterson says he will work with the leadership in the Senate Ag Committee to pass their version of the farm bill, which so far does not include SNAP reform.
