Klobuchar calls on House to take up farm bill before next year

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) called on the House to pass a farm bill before the end of the year.

“I’m here to speak on the need for action on five-year farm bill,” Klobuchar said on the floor Wednesday. “We wait, and we wait, and we wait for the House to act.”

Klobuchar pointed to the fact that the Senate passed its version of the farm bill, which reduced spending levels by $23 billion, this summer.

“We did our job in the U.S. Senate,” Klobuchar said. “I continue to believe that the carefully crafted bill we passed in the Senate finds a balanced approach.”

The Senate version passed on a widely bipartisan vote and the House has cleared its own version out of committee, but House leadership has failed to take up the bill.

Klobuchar said if the House refuses to act by the end of the year, that lawmakers working on a deficit-reduction deal should include the Senate farm bill.

Klobuchar said the farm bill, which expired in September, is particularly important this year because farmers experienced a dry summer.

“This summer farmers in the corn belt of this country waited sometimes in vain for rain,” Klobuchar said. “This time they’re not waiting for weather, they’re waiting for a farm bill.

“Why would we want to pull the rug out from under our nation’s leading exporters for this economy — our farmers?”

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has said he’s still working with members to figure out a way to bring the bill to the floor. Some GOP members want spending reduced even more than the Senate version accomplishes.

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