Farm bill passes after three years of talks

KAREN DANAE GARRIDO CAZAREZ

Sociedad y Política de los Estados Unidos

4/Febrero/2014

On Tuesday afternoon, The senate voted to approve a new, five year farm bill that the House passed last week. The measure heads next to President Obama, who is expected to sign it in the coming days.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) described the agreement Tuesday as "a major bipartisan jobs bill that makes sure that 16 million people who work in agriculture... have the support that they need."

The bill authorizes the end of billions of dollars in direct subsidy payments to the nation’s farmers. In their place, farmers will be able to take advantage of a new crop insurance program. The agreement also saves billions by consolidating government conservation programs and cuts about $8 billion in funding for food stamps by tweaking eligibility rules. The bill is supposed to cut roughly $16 billion in government spending over the next decade, according to government estimates.

The bill includes changes to complex programs involving environmental regulations on farms, aid to dairy and sheep farmers, and what kind of food the Agriculture Department should buy to replenish the nation’s food banks. But most of the political attention has focused on food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Ultimately, House and Senate negotiators agreed to cut about $8 billion or 1 percent of the program’s budget by closing a loophole that several states and the District of Columbia have used to boost SNAP payments to low-income households. That change will reduce benefits for about 850,000 households nationwide, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office. Supporters say the cuts will come by implementing safeguards designed to reduce waste, fraud and abuse in the program.

A bloc of liberal lawmakers voted against the legislation in opposition to the food stamp cuts, while some conservatives voted against the agreement because it failed to more boldly cut SNAP funding.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/02/04/farm-bill-passes-after-three-years-of-talks/

I DISAGREE

I disagree, because the bill affects families that are going through really tough  times, and are struggling to put something to eat on the table by cutting $8 billion from the  formerly food stamps. This strongly affects the poor people because if they try to save some money for whatever need they have, the bill will eliminate a provision that lets states to give up the assets of the strict limits that punishes families to save money. But it not only affects the poor people it will also affect the middle class, it will certainly affect small businesses and grocers.

CONCLUSION

Congress should pass a farm bill, a bill that doesn’t affect most of the vulnerable citizens in their society. There should be a more focus on nutrition safety and making it stronger rather than affecting it and making it weaker, and also to watch for the benefits of the farmers and making the middle class much stronger.