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July 12, 2012
04:30 PM ET
House Ag Committee Passes Farm Bill
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Following debates and votes on 109 amendments, a process that took over 15 hours, the House Agriculture Committee voted last night to pass the Farm Bill out of Committee. The vote was 35 to 11.

The next step in the House is unclear as it is possible that Speaker Boehner may not even allow the bill to come up for a vote on the House floor. Boehner is no fan of farm subsidies, and even though the bill dramatically changes commodity programs, some would like them to go away altogether. Then there are the billions in cuts in the bill to the SNAP (food stamps) program, exposing Republicans to election-year charges that they want to starve hungry kids...

If it is allowed a vote, it could be during July or September, or it maybe after the election. Anything is still possible.

Close to home for us, the programs of most direct and beneficial impact on our industry -- plant pest and disease prevention, national clean plant network, specialty crop block grants, and research, attracted little controversy and few amendments. These programs are intact.
Filed under: Farm Bill • legislation
About the Authors
Craig Regelbrugge
Craig Regelbrugge serves as the American Nursery & Landscape Association's Vice President for Government Relations and Research. He serves in several leadership positions regarding the green industry and labor and immigration reform. He is national co-chair of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform (ACIR), working to secure an affordable and legal workforce for nursery and greenhouse growers. In 2008 he was elected vice chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Immigration Forum, and represents agriculture and the green industry on the management team of the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign.
 
 
Joe Bischoff
Dr. Joe Bischoff is ANLA's Director of Government Relations. Focused on legislative and regulatory issues connected to pest and disease management, Joe also works in collaboration with the Horticultural Research Institute (HRI), the research arm of ANLA, to develop and implement strategies for responding to new pest and disease challenges facing the industry. He was recently appointed to the Federal Invasive Species Advisory Committee (ISAC), serves on the Tier 2 Commodity Committee for the National Clean Plant Network – Fruit Trees, and is on the Research Committee of the National Ornamentals Research Site at Dominican University of California. Before joining the ANLA in February 2012, Dr. Bischoff was National Mycologist with the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the USDA.
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