Next Tuesday’s election is not expected to impact chances for early Farm Bill action in Congress, no matter which party has the House or Senate majority, or the White House in January. While the House is expected to stay in GOP hands, continued Republican control of the Senate is less than certain, as is the race for the White House.
But one thing is for sure; low commodity prices aren’t going away, not with huge surpluses weighing down the markets. American Farm Bureau Director Dale Moore expects that to generate support from both parties for an early Farm Bill.
“I think it’s an even money bet that we’re going to see sooner rather than later chairs and the ranking members of both the House and Senate ag committees starting their discussions.”
The Farm Bill expires in 2018, but Moore says planning is already underway at Farm Bureau and on Capitol Hill for an early Farm Bill.
“We would expect, in fact we’ve been hearing this pretty much since I think mid-summer, if not earlier, both Chairman Conway on the House side and Chairman Roberts on the Senate side talk about ‘we’re thinking about the farm bill, we’re getting ready for the farm bill.’”
Moore expects Farm Bill work to start early next year based on an early start on the last Farm Bill and conditions in farm country today.
“You look at what’s going on not only in the markets for commodities, you also have to look at what Mother Nature has been dropping on folks,” he said. “We had drought conditions up in the northeast, we’ve got them all the way through the southeast and out west. So there are folks still wondering how they deal with a market return picture that’s more red ink than black ink.”
And while producers face uncertainty, lawmakers could face even more uncertainty with the political turmoil expected, no matter who wins next Tuesday.
Source: NAFB News