Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill slammed the GOP-controlled House, and by extension her election opponent Republican Congressman Todd Akin, for failing to pass a new farm bill.

In a statement, McCaskill argued in favor of the Senate-passed measure.

 

“When the Farm Bill expires this Sunday night, politicians in the U.S. House of Representatives are going to have to answer for why they’ve decided to put partisan ideology above the jobs and livelihoods of Missourians and a top industry for our state,” McCaskill said.

“Anybody in touch with what’s going on in Missouri this year knows how badly our farmers, ranchers, and rural families and businesses need certainty—which is why I successfully fought to pass the Farm Bill in the Senate, and why the refusal to act in the U.S. House is so unacceptable.”

McCaskill says the Farm Bill approved by the Senate reauthorizes essential livestock disaster assistance programs, supports agriculture jobs, strengthens resources for family farms and ranches, and reduces the national deficit by more than $23 billion.

The Farm Bill, approved with a strong bipartisan vote of 64-35, also provides crucial resources that McCaskll says allow Missouri’s crop producers to manage risk and new programs that help Missouri’s dairy farmers to cope with high costs.