North Dakota Senator John Hoeven says the Senate Agriculture Committee has a farm bill ready to advance when lawmakers return from the August recess. Negotiations continue over changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, but Hoeven believes the proposal balances reforms with additional time for states to adjust. “It’s well crafted, and we still realize real savings, have real reforms, but it does give the state another year to get their error rate down.” For agriculture, Hoeven says the bill includes year-round E15, improvements to crop insurance and farm credit programs, country-of-origin labeling and fertilizer storage assistance. He says the committee is positioned to advance the legislation. “We have this thing teed up,” Hoeven said. “It is a good bill. It is a bipartisan bill.” However, Hoeven says additional bipartisan support will be necessary to get the bill through the full Senate. “Some of these Democrats need to join us so we can pass it on the floor.”
