No farm bill for now.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) told reporters last week before Congress called it quits that they would deal with a farm bill after the election because he did not believe there were 218 votes to pass either an extension or new legislation. “The current situation that we face is that we’ve got people who believe there’s not enough reform in the farm bill that came out of committee, and others who believe there’s too much reform in the bill that came out of committee,” Boehner said. “But when we get back, we will deal with the issue of the farm bill.”

The current bill expires at the end of this month, but that does not mean an immediate return to the crop support programs of the 1949 law because most farm programs can continue to operate through the end of the year. But, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says some programs will expire at the end of this month. “The Export Assistance programs, the CRP sign up, the MILC dairy program, some of the conservation programs, and there’s no disaster assistance,” said Vilsack.

Secretary Vilsack is frustrated and disappointed that House leadership failed to allow a vote on the bill passed by the agriculture committee, and he thinks they have ulterior motives. “I don’t think it’s simply issues involving nutrition assistance,” he said. “I think the House leadership also has plans to significantly cut and reduce support for farm programs – conservation programs, commodity title, as well as the crop insurance title.”

Vilsack fears that Congress will not pass a new farm bill during the lame duck session, meaning the measure would have to wait until the new Congress, which means the already passed Senate bill would be dead and they would have to start from scratch. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) vows to not let that happen. “I’m absolutely committed to doing everything humanly possible to complete the farm bill in November or December,” she said during a press conference last week.