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Congressman Lummis praises Chairman Lucas’ work towards creating a more farm focused bill. 

Washington, Jun 20 -

Thursday the U.S. House failed to pass H.R. 1947 the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013 (FARRM). This revised legislation touted nearly $40 billion in cuts, largely from the ever expanding food stamp eligibility standard, and spending on nutrition programs now constitutes 80% of Farm Bill.  U.S. Representative Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo) voted in support of the bill as an alternative to continued extensions. 

Rep. Lummis:

“My top priority has always been to ensure Wyoming’s agricultural producers are treated fairly and given every opportunity to compete on a national and global marketplace. Today’s bill was not perfect, but it provided producers the certainty to go forward in their industry.

“This bill was crafted to save billions for our country and establish long overdue reform to the 1996 welfare and nutrition programs. It ended agricultural payments to farmers who no longer farm, focusing instead on risk management, and consolidated duplicative programs to save money.  For the people of Wyoming, it created more flexibility in conservation programs, provided research and rural development dollars and reauthorized expired livestock disaster programs. 

“I want to applaud House Agricultural Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) for his tireless work on this legislation. His negotiating and willingness to commit the long, hard hours needed to pass this type of legislation is truly admirable.

“But without Democratic support for any nutrition program reforms, the bill’s passage was unlikely.  The House will need to reexamine and reevaluate before the current extension expires on September 30th, 2013.  For now it’s a disappointment that today was not the day for the FARRM bill to advance to conference between the House and the Senate.”

Final vote count H.R. 1947: 195 to 234 against