Salinas: The Farm Bill Impacts All Oregonians

Congresswoman Andrea Salinas is one of two Oregon members of the House Ag committee, which has worked for two years on the farm bill reauthorization.  She said Farm Bills have always been bipartisan, but she believes Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is playing politics.  Salinas stressed without a new deal in place, farmers and ranchers suffer.

"It really stifles any kind of predictability.  Our growers need to know year after year, what kind of price supports that they can get.  Especially those that are in the commodity markets.”

The SNAP program, sometimes called food stamps, is also governed by the farm bill.

“If we did not get an extension, whether it’s just another one-year extension or something permanent, that could affect the SNAP program; and it could ultimately reduce benefits.”

Salinas wants a full five-year deal, but she’s not optimistic that’ll happen before the end of the year.  She does believe a short-term extension is possible.

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