The section containing a cut to food stamp spending was split from the farm bill at 8 p.m. the evening prior to the vote, denying opposition time to regroup before the bill was voted on.

Though farm bills and food stamps have traditionally been combined, House Speaker John Boehner said in an Associated Press (AP) article that the unusual process was designed to get a farm bill passed.

According to the AP article about the passed bill:

It includes one new provision that repeals laws from the 1930s and 1940s that kick in when current farm law expires. Farm-state lawmakers have kept those laws on the books so there would be incentive to pass new farm bills, but the threat of outdated policies kicking in has been a headache for farmers who worry they can't depend on Congress to create new laws or extend more recent versions of the law.

Repealing those decades-old laws could mean that Congress would have little incentive to create new farm bills, however, and could make many of the new farm programs permanent.

The bill would also cut subsidies that are paid whether or not the recipient farms, and increase government subsidies for crop insurance.

The White House feels that food stamps should not have been dropped from the bill. President Obama has threatened a veto. 

—From an Associated Press article by Mary Clare Jalonick (Click here to read the full article.)

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