Senate Stalls on Farm Bill Conference

The Senate never took up a motion expected last week to go to conference with the House on the 2018 Farm Bill.  But that key procedural step is expected this week.  Many expected the Senate to act after the House already voted to move to Conference.

“They had a lot of activity on the floor related to some of the appropriations measures, certially other things going on, said American Farm Bureau Executive Director Dale Moore.  "Our understanding is that they simply ran out of time and opportunity to bring this up, so it’s more process than a policy or political issue.”

Moore said the votes to move on a Farm Bill are there.  He added he expects the process to continue, even with the House gone for the August recess.

“The House has left until after Labor Day, but the Senate is going to keep working and we expect them to come back in, and get conferees named and give us the opportunity to start working with the formal conference process.”

The Ag committee chairs and ranking members met privately last week to plan pre-conference logistics for August, though no date’s been set yet for formal talks in September.

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