PRIORITIES FOR THE FARM BILL CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

Lindsay Mitchell

Oct 30, 2013  |  Today's News

This afternoon, the first meeting of the 2013 Farm Bill conference committee commences.  The committee will be forced to reconcile the many differences between the House passed Farm Bill and SNAP program bills and the Senate passed Farm Bill.

Among those differences is a significant variance in the cuts the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will sustain.  In the House version, SNAP is cut by $16.5 billion in the next ten years.  The Senate version cuts $4.1 billion over the same.  A difference of $12 billion is a significant challenge.

Illinois Congressman Rodney Davis, serving a district in central Illinois, was named to the conference committee.  On his Facebook page, Cong Davis says, “I'm honored to serve on the conference committee and look forward to working out a compromise with our colleagues in the Senate so that we can get a long-term Farm Bill signed into law.”

Illinois Corn will be advocating for Davis to preserve vital crop insurance provisions that protect Illinois farmers in times of crisis and to maintain a farm program that allows the market to influence planting decisions.

The House conferees include:

Republicans
House Committee on Agriculture conferees:

• Rep. Frank D. Lucas (R-OK), Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee
• Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
• Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
• Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL)
• Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
• Rep. Glenn 'GT' Thompson (R-PA)
• Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA)
• Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR)
• Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL)
• Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD)
• Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA)
• Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL)

Leadership conferee:

• Rep. Steve Southerland (R-FL)

House Foreign Affairs Committee conferees:

• Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman
• Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA)

House Ways & Means Committee conferees:

• Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), Chairman
• Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX)

Democrats
House Committee on Agriculture conferees:

• Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN), Ranking Member of House Agriculture Committee
• Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
• Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA)
• Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN)
• Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
• Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA)
• Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA)
• Rep. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-CA)
• Rep. Filemon Vela (D-TX)

Leadership conferee:

• Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH)

House Foreign Affairs Committee conferee:

• Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Ranking Member

House Ways & Means Committee conferee:

• Rep. Sandy Levin (D-MI), Ranking Member

Senate conferees listed here.

Watch the conference committee live here.