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House Lawmakers Divided Over Farm Bill

By: Matt Laslo // July 7, 2012
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House Republicans and Democrats will take up the farm bill when they return from the July 4 recess.
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House Republicans and Democrats will take up the farm bill when they return from the July 4 recess.

House lawmakers are scheduled to take up the farm bill when Congress returns from its July 4 recess. The Senate already passed its version of the farm bill with a price tag of around $1 trillion. The new House version has a similar price, but the two chambers kept their prices down through very different methods.

House Republicans want to find savings through slashing the nation's food stamp program by $16 billion, but Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) says the proposal is dangerous for low-income families in the region.

"They used the farm bill for another ideological instrument to punish the poor," says Moran. "Forty-four million people depend upon food stamps, and here they are cutting it back, and basically it's in order to save subsidies that go to very wealthy agribusiness."

The House farm bill still has to go through the committee process before it will come before the whole House. Then the two chambers will need to hammer out their disagreements, which analysts say will be difficult during this election year.

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