On the first day of the 113th Congress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) reintroduced the version of the Farm Bill the Senate passed on June 21, 2012, S. 3240. Full text of S.3240 available here. For an Agri-Pulse news item on this important development, click here. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan), Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry has indicated that she will convene a Committee mark up as soon as possible, the product of which could then be substituted for Senator Reid’s placeholder bill.
According to the Agri-Pulse article:
“I applaud Sen. Reid’s leadership and commitment to getting a five-year farm bill done to provide certainty to the 16 million Americans working in agriculture,” Stabenow said. “Last year we were able to pass a farm bill with overwhelming bipartisan support, saving more than $23 billion in taxpayer money and reforming farm bill programs to be more cost-effective and market-oriented. Unfortunately, the House didn’t bring the farm bill to the floor.”
An email press release from the Senate Agriculture Committee (“Chairwoman Stabenow Applauds Majority Leader Reid for Making Farm Bill a Top Priority: Reid Introduces Senate-Passed Farm Bill on First Day of New Congress, Reinforces Commitment to Agriculture Jobs and Deficit Reduction“), states that “Chairwoman Stabenow has said she is committed to convening a Committee mark up as soon as possible, to produce an updated version of the Farm Bill, which could then be substituted for Majority Leader Reid’s placeholder bill.”