‘LaPolitics:’ Congressional Q&A on the Farm Bill with Ralph Abraham

LaPolitics recently sat down with Congressman Ralph Abraham for a wide-ranging Q&A on the Farm Bill. Here’s what the Republican from Alto, who sits on the House Committee on Agriculture, had to say:

As a conferee on the Farm Bill, you have been directly involved in the negotiations around the bill. What, in your opinion, is the biggest impasse that is preventing passage of this legislation?

Abraham: We passed it on the House side and there was, of course, some controversy on the work requirements for SNAP. As you know, I’m a big advocate of people that can work need to work. So that was one of the things on the House side that we were butting heads with the Democrats on but we prevailed. Now, it’s over on the Senate side and unfortunately, you have one or two members on the Democrats side blocking the Farm Bill simply because they think that with Congress returning after the elections that the Democrats are going to control the Senate.

Are the work requirements a deal breaker for Republicans?

Abraham: Well, no, not at all. Look, I mean everything is on the table. But not only are Republicans for these work requirements, if you poll any group, including Democrats, you get over 80 percent favorable polling on this one particular issue. Everybody who needs a job should be able to get a job. Everybody that can work, needs to work.

Something else you mentioned is the timetable on the Farm Bill. Some are thinking that this is going to happen when Congress comes back. In your opinion, is this something that will be handled in December, or are we going to have to wait until new members take office in January?

Abraham: I think what will happen—we’re going to keep the House and we’re going to keep the Senate—that is certainly my prediction. Sometime between the election and the first of the year, I think we will get this Farm Bill voted on, on the Senate side. They’re going to pass it over there, it will come back to us in the House as what we call a “conferee bill” and we’ll get it to the president’s desk. The president has said that he wants to sign this bill.

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