The Senate passed the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2013 by a vote of 66 to 27 on Monday evening, putting even more pressure on the House of Representatives to complete its work to get a bill to conference and passed by the end of summer. Representative Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), a member of the House agriculture committee, is hopeful.

“Certainly that should be the goal,” says Rep. Hartzler. “I know the leadership of the House Ag and I think the Senate Ag Committee as well want to see this done and wrapped up by August, so we’re certainly going to try.”

Rep. Hartzler says the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (FARRM) of 2013 is a good bill that deserves to pass so she is cautiously optimistic it will once it gets to the floor next week. “But there are going to be a lot of amendments and there is going to be a lot of discussion,” she said. “There’s a lot of controversial aspects to the bill among several members.”

Those controversial issues include food assistance, the dairy program and the sugar program. Even though it is not part of the Senate bill, Hartzler is hopeful that her amendment repealing the catfish inspection program will survive in conference. “It’s a perfect example of wasteful, duplicative government spending and we can’t afford that nowadays,” she said.

Listen to or download interview with Rep. Hartzler: Interview with Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO)