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Damien Sharp
The House Agriculture Committee marked up its $1.5 trillion farm bill yesterday, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has already said has no future in the Senate.
Andrew Novakovic, a professor of agriculture economics at Cornell University, said two things will be telling as this long process continues to unfold.
Andrew Novakovic
E. V. Baker Professor of Agricultural Economics Emeritus
Andrew Novakovic, a professor of agriculture economics at Cornell University.
“Congressman Thompson has delivered a characteristically Republican package which has already faced pushback from Democrats, but I would say this is within the frame of more conventional R and D debates of the past, and not so much the extreme partisanship with widely divergent perspectives that have become more the norm.
“In that light, two things will be telling as this long process continues to unfold. One, will the ag leadership in both parties and chambers move towards a compromise? Two, will everyone else ultimately coalesce around such an agreement—were one to emerge? Historically, this is the usual way of things. Of course, it has been far less the pattern of late.
“For sure this will be another opportunity for the Speaker to pass a bill in violation of the Hastert rule. Also, election year politics will muddy the waters when it comes to compromise seeking behaviors.”
