Why The Latest Delay With The Farm Bill?

The latest farm bill delay is being blamed on the government’s budgeting problems.  Farm bill lawmakers had hoped to complete a farm bill last year, but that never happened.

Ag leaders blamed “A little thing called ‘tax reform.’”

Now, it’s the middle of February, and still no farm bill with just over seven months left in the current law.  So, what’s the latest reason for delay?

According to American Farm Bureau Executive Director Dale Moore, blame the budget.

“And not so much  in terms of what the budget numbers are, but rather the process of getting this budget completed, because we’ve got another deadline looming.  You know, you get to the tail end of march relative to the continuing resolution process, so once that gets resolved, I think that clears up a number of issues that are frankly, require a lot of attention.”

Moore and others hope the Ag Committee chairs propose starting language for a farm bill soon after the next government-funding deadline of March 23rd.  Moore says the just-enacted two-year budget deal being put into spending language to fund the rest of this fiscal year, gives farm bill writers a head-start.

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