U.S. lawmakers are very close to reaching a consensus in days on the Farm Bill, two senior senators said on Wednesday, after months of bitter partisan debate over the legislation to fund $867 billion in food and agriculture programs reports Reuters.
The latest bill, passed in 2014, expired on Sept. 30 after talks over its replacement broke down. At the heart of the debate was whether or not to impose stricter work requirements for recipients of food stamps.
“We have finally reached a point where I think we’re very close and very encouraged,” Republican Senator Pat Roberts from Kansas, who heads the Senate’s Agriculture Committee, told reporters.
"The 2018 farm bill emerging from the conference committee is good news for farmers amid a prolonged downturn in the agricultural economy," said American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall. “[These policies] broadly remain bipartisan matters and we encourage both houses of Congress to approve this bill once it is finalized by House and Senate Ag Leaders."
