Congressman Peter Welch says a farm bill passed by a bitterly divided U.S. House this week is a setback for Vermont dairy farmers.
But Welch says the legislation could still be improved when the bill goes to a House-Senate conference committee.
Farmers around the country have been in limbo for months, waiting for Congress to pass legislation that sets out the nation’s food and farm programs for the next five years.
Now, they’ll have to wait until after the August congressional recess, said Welch, D-Vt. The Republican-led House passed a farm bill on Thursday. But after an emotional and partisan debate, the House cut food stamp and nutrition programs from the bill. The vote was the first time in 40 years that food programs and farm programs have been separated in the legislation.
Welch said the move was a mistake since the Senate won’t accept the changes.
“This is a setback. The House Agriculture Committee had passed a bi-partisan bill that was close to the Senate bill and it was something I could have supported,” he said. “And when the bill came on the floor, basically the speaker and the majority leader led the charge for provisions that unraveled the compromise that the committee had reached.”
But Welch said the bill could get moved closer to the Senate version when it reaches the conference committee.
“We’ve still got a chance. The Senate passed a good bill that included the dairy stabilization plan that is so essential for Vermont farmers. By the way, it’s something that would help them, but also save taxpayers money. So it’s common sense,” he said.
The language Welch refers to gets farmers to curb production in cases of over-supply. It was cut in the House’s stand alone farm legislation.
“And that dairy provision is something that Republicans and Democrats in the committee supported. And they did because it really made taxpayer sense as well as farm security sense,” he said. “But it was an ideological issue on the floor, and that got stripped out of the bill. And that cost it support, including my support.”
Welch said the farm bill, like other major legislation in the House, is subject to House Speaker John Boehner’s rule that says legislation can’t come to the floor for a vote unless it has the majority of Republicans behind it.
“Which essentially gives an immense amount of control to the Tea Party wing of the party,” he said. “We’ve succeeded in the House on those occasions when he’s moved to the middle and worked with Democrats.”
The partisan divide over farm and food programs frustrates farmers as well as state agriculture officials.
At a recent news conference on farm flooding, State Agriculture Secretary Chuck Ross said the legislation should not be trapped in partisan gridlock.
“Congressman Welch has got some tough work to do in the House. There’s a division as we know,” he said. “I’ll tell you, my colleagues from around the country all support a farm bill getting passed, doesn’t matter the political stripe, they believe and they understand the importance of a farm bill.”
Welch said even though the farm bill passed by the House has less than what Vermont farmers wanted, the good news is that it’s still alive.
