Massaging on the 2018 Farm Bill continues as “conference committee” negotiators attempt to rectify differences between the House- and Senate-passed versions. The compromised version is expected to be released early this week (week of Dec. 9) and voted on before Christmas.
There were some major differences between the House and Senate versions, which passed those respective chambers in June 2018. The House bill called for forest management activities on areas less than 6,000 acres to be exempt from full environmental review. It also included increased work requirements for people who receive food stamps under the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).
Although President Donald Trump expressed support for both the forestry and SNAP provisions in the House version, the Senate was not on board. Legislators will have to decide if the much-anticipated compromise bill will cut muster.
Short-gap spending approved
On Thursday, Dec. 6, Congress sent a short-term extension of government funding to the President’s desk. It extends current funding for government agencies through December 21. The president had not signed it by press time.
While spending deals have been reached for the Department of Defense and a few other agencies, lawmakers are still working on seven funding bills: Agriculture (the Farm Bill), Commerce-Justice-Science, Financial Services, Homeland Security (DHS), Interior-Environment, State-Foreign Operations and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development. Disagreement over the border wall in the DHS budget seems to be the biggest hurdle in the funding debate. — Theodora Johnson, WLJ correspondent
