With only days left before Congress goes on a five-week recess in August, House Republican leaders have yet to schedule a vote on the farm bill. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack pushed the House to consider the bill, which has passed out of its agriculture committee, before its August vacation.
Vilsack urged Congress to act on a farm bill that would reinstate expired disaster assistance programs for farmers experiencing the worst drought in nearly seven decades. Programs authorized in the 2008 farm bill have expired and won't be renewed unless the House approves a bill passed by the Senate.
Some pundits have opined that the farm bill has been back-burnered by House Republican leaders wary of igniting internal party fights or riling voters three months before the election. PD
