By Rose Law Group Reporter Staff
The Senate easily passed a sprawling farm bill, 87 to 13, on Tuesday, advancing an ambitious $867 billion measure that rejected stricter work requirements for food-stamp recipients that were pushed by House Republicans and cheered by President Trump.
The twice-a-decade legislation provides a safety net for farmers hit with unexpected weather or by tariffs, as well as to low-income Americans struggling to feed themselves and their families. It is one of the most politically sensitive pieces of legislation Congress passes, balancing the demands of urban legislators hoping to maintain or increase funding for nutrition programs and rural lawmakers seeking to protect farmers, a divide brought into sharp relief this year as negotiations continued months after the previous bill’s Sept. 30 expiration date.
At the insistence of Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate majority leader, it legalizes industrial hemp as a crop, giving farmers hurting from the loss of tobacco a boost. Mr. McConnell has championed industrial hemp for his once tobacco-dependent state. The measure is expected to open up the usage of hemp for construction products and plastic composites, and should help vendors of cannabidiol, a cannabis compound that does not cause a high.
Impact on Arizona
A decision made more than 2,000 miles away could impact how the hungry are fed in Arizona and all over the country.
The Arizona Farm Bureau was “waiting with bated breath” to see a revised version of the bill
The revised bill contains new language after many heated debates and revisions made on Capitol Hill. Earlier versions contained a provision that would have required many “able-bodied” workers to work or attend some type of job training program in order to stay eligible for SNAP, or food stamp, benefits.
Many food pantries were worried the “work” provision would have pushed hundreds of thousands of Arizonans off government assistance and looking to them to help feed their families.
“We were very concerned about the large number of people who would be impacted in Arizona. We believe it would have been 290,000. We were concerned about where they would go to find jobs that would help them feed their families,” said Angie Rodgers with the Association of Arizona Food Banks.
Information from The New York Times and ABC 15.
