Farm Bill to be voted on by House on Wednesday

The House of Representatives will vote on a new Farm Bill on Jan. 29.

The bill, approved by a bipartisan committee on Jan. 27, provides nearly $1 trillion in funding for a variety of programs, but cuts about $23 billion in federal spending over the next 10 years. The legistlation ends direct payments to farmers, consolidates dozens of programs, and reduces food stamp spending by $8 billion.

The Washington Post reported that the number of conservation programs will be taken from 23 to 13.

Two previous attempts to pass the legistlation were stalled in Congress. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack posted a blog on the USDA website on Jan. 10 lobbying for a new farm bill. Vilsack hoped that Congress would end their deadlock and pass a new, five-year farm bill that supported programs for starving Americans.

Among the bill's 959 pages is a provision that spends about $125 million researching citrus disease, a spending measure that will be spread across the bill's five-year lifespan.

More information on the bill's specifics are available on the Hill's website. If you'd like to read the bill itself, despite its length, you can click here. A marginally shorter introductory bill, clocking in at 186 pages, is also available here.