After Fail­ing to Pass a Com­pre­hen­sive Five-Year Farm Bill for Two Con­sec­u­tive Years, U.S. House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives Strips Nutri­tion Pro­grams from Farm Bill, Hurt­ing Ohio Farm­ers, Chil­dren, and Families

More than 530 Agri­cul­ture and Rural Devel­op­ment Organizations—Including the Ohio Farm Bureau Fed­er­a­tion, the Ohio Farm­ers Union, and the Ohio Pork Pro­duc­ers Council—Urged Speaker Boehner to Pass the Bipar­ti­san Five-Year Farm Bill Which Passed the Sen­ate in June

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Fol­low­ing the U.S. House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives fail­ure to pass a com­pre­hen­sive farm bill, U.S. Sen. Sher­rod Brown (D-OH) released the fol­low­ing statement:

July 2 the House broke a 40-year bipar­ti­san tra­di­tion of pass­ing a com­pre­hen­sive Farm Bill,” Brown said. “This approach was opposed by more than 530 agri­cul­ture, com­mod­ity, and rural devel­op­ment groups because they know that split­ting the bill will hurt Amer­i­can agri­cul­ture. The Sen­ate was able to pass a strong, bipar­ti­san bill that imple­mented crit­i­cal farm safety reforms and saved tax­pay­ers more than the House bill. It’s time for the House to put Amer­i­can farm­ers and pro­duc­ers ahead of par­ti­san politics.”

After fail­ing to pass a com­pre­hen­sive, five-year farm bill in 2012 and again this year, the House passed par­ti­san leg­is­la­tion that did not include fund­ing for crit­i­cal nutri­tion pro­grams that sup­port Ohio fam­i­lies, chil­dren, and vet­er­ans. Last week, more than 530 agri­cul­tural and rural devel­op­ment orga­ni­za­tions urged Speaker Boehner to vote on the Fed­eral Agri­cul­ture Reform and Risk Man­age­ment Act of 2013, a five-year, bipar­ti­san bill the Sen­ate passed in June. Brown, a mem­ber of the Sen­ate Agri­cul­ture Com­mit­tee, included a num­ber of pro­vi­sions into the base text of the bill in addi­tion to amend­ments that were included in the Sen­ate Agri­cul­ture Com­mit­tee mark-up.