Senate leader prods farm bill negotiators for quick deal

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pressed farm bill negotiators to finalize an agreement as quickly as possible, but House Republicans used the conference committee’s first formal meeting to continue to press senators to accept tighter work requirements for food stamp recipients. 

McConnell, who appointed himself to the conference committee, said at Wednesday's meeting that he wanted to send “a bipartisan, bicameral bill to the president’s desk that he’ll sign before the end of September.”

If that doesn’t happen, McConnell warned, “it’s going to be a bipartisan failure of extraordinary notice to the farmers and ranchers of our country.”

Rep. Ralph Abraham, R-La., defended a provision in the House bill that would allow nieces, nephew and cousins of farmers to qualify for payments. 

The program would get $450 million in mandatory funding over five years in the House-passed farm bill. The Senate version only authorizes funding for the programs, leaving it up to appropriators to decide spending levels on a year-to-year basis. 

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