Senate Passes a Strong Farm Bill

On June 10 the Senate succeeded once more in passing a strong, bipartisan farm bill that contains sensible protections for soil, water, and wildlife.

            National Wildlife Federation applauds the final bill and the leadership of Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-MS), for crafting a bill that maintains adequate funding for conservation, includes a national Sodsaver provision, and re-links conservation compliance provision to crop insurance premium subsidies. The bill also authorizes funding for an innovative regional partnership program which would target conservation funding to as many as eight priority conservation regions.

            “We are very pleased with the Senate’s version of the farm bill and congratulate the Senate Agriculture Committee and Senate leadership for all their hard work,” said Julie Sibbing, director of Agriculture and Forestry Programs for National Wildlife Federation. “In the present climate of kicking the can down the road and paralyzing lack of compromise in Congress, it is refreshing to see members on both sides of the aisle roll up their sleeves and pass a balanced farm bill that ensures a robust safety net for farmers and for natural resources. The House should follow their example.”

            For a final version of the farm bill to become reauthorized, the House of Representatives must bring the version passed out of the House Committee on Agriculture to the floor for a vote. Last year, House leadership disappointed farmers and conservationists by failing to bring the farm bill to the floor. Each year that Congress fails to pass the farm bill, there is a lower baseline level of fundingavailable for conservation; it is critical that a final five-year farm bill is reauthorized in 2013, and that the final version contains the same protections for wildlife that are included in the Senate’s version passed today.