Disagreements among the House Agriculture Committee members regarding the nutrition title are stalling movement on the farm bill. Committee Chairman Mike Conaway of Texas says there will not be a farm bill markup next week, citing the committee’s progress in “negotiating to a yes” from both Republicans and Democrats. Conaway and House Democrats are in conflict over the way the nutrition title handles the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to the Hagstrom Report. That decision means that Conaway will not meet his goal of holding a markup on the farm bill in the first quarter of 2018.
Ranking Democrat on the Committee, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, says Democrats on the committee cannot support the bill in its current form. Last Week, Peterson said the Republican proposal regarding nutrition is similar to what killed the current farm bill the first time it came to the House floor in 2013.