WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate voted overwhelmingly Tuesday for a sweeping agriculture bill that will fund key farm safety net programs for the next five years without making significant changes to the food stamp program.

The vote was 87-13. The House is expected to pass the measure soon and send it to President Donald Trump for his signature.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell brought the bill up for a quick vote Tuesday, less than one day after the House and Senate reached an agreement on the final text.

The measure is the result of months of negotiations, and does not make any significant changes — despite pressure from President Donald Trump — to the food stamp program that serves nearly 40 million low-income Americans.

“This is what happens when the Congress works in a bipartisan, bicameral fashion,” said Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., ahead of the vote. “It’s a good bill that accomplishes what we set out to do: provide certainty and predictability for farmers and families in rural communities.”

The legislation sets federal agricultural and food policy for five years and provides more than $400 billion in farm subsidies, conservation programs and food aid for the poor. It reauthorizes crop insurance and conservation programs and funds trade programs, bioenergy production and organic farming research. It also reduces the cost for struggling dairy producers to sign up for support programs and legalizes the cultivation of industrial hemp, an initiative championed by McConnell.

One thing the bill doesn’t have: tighter work requirements for food stamp recipients, a provision of the House bill that became a major sticking point during negotiations.

“We maintain a strong safety net for farmers and importantly, we maintain a strong safety net for our families,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., the most senior Democrat on the agriculture committee. “We said no to harmful changes that would take food away from families, and instead increased program integrity and job training to be able to make sure things should be working as they should and every dollar is used as it should be.”

The House bill would have raised the age of recipients subject to work requirements from 49 to 59 and required parents with children older than 6 years to work or participate in job training. The House measure also sought to limit circumstances under which families who qualify for other poverty programs can automatically be eligible for SNAP, and earmarked $1 billion to expand work-training programs.

By contrast, the bipartisan Senate bill, which passed 86-11, offered modest adjustments to existing farm programs and made no changes to SNAP.

Throughout the negotiation process Trump made his support for work requirements clear, tweeting about the issue multiple times. But negotiators ultimately rejected the most controversial House measures related to SNAP, making no significant changes to the program. The outcome is a victory for Democrats, who refused to support them.

The final bill also preserves states’ ability to provide waivers, and does not change eligibility criteria. It does increase funding for employment and job training programs from $90 million to roughly $103.9 million per year.

The two chambers also clashed over portions of the bill’s forestry and conservation sections. But the most contentious pieces of the House version, such as relaxing restrictions on pesticide use, didn’t make it into the final text.

Negotiations were complicated in recent weeks when the White House asked Congress to make changes to the forestry section in response to deadly wildfires in California, giving more authority to the Agriculture and Interior departments to clear forests and other public lands. The final text doesn’t significantly increase the agencies’ authority.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Monday the bill “maintains a strong safety net for the farm economy, invests in critical agricultural research and will promote agriculture exports through robust trade programs,” but voiced disappointment over the failed changes to the work requirement.

“While we would have liked to see more progress on work requirements for SNAP recipients and forest management reforms, the conference agreement does include several helpful provisions, and we will continue to build upon these through our authorities,” he said.

The bill also maintains current limits on farm subsidies, but includes a House provision to expand the definition of family to include first cousins, nieces and nephews, making them eligible for payments under the program.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Michael Conaway, R-Texas, a strong proponent of stricter work requirements, thanked Perdue and the administration for their support.

“America’s farmers and ranchers are weathering the fifth year of severe recession, so passing a farm bill this week that strengthens the farm safety net is vitally important,” Conaway said.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer says the U.S. and China must reach a trade agreement by March. Lighthizer said March 1st is a “hard deadline” for a long-term deal to be reached between the two nations, according to Politico.

Lighthizer says the administration wants additional market access for U.S. producers and structural changes by China to protect American technology. If an agreement cannot be reached, more tariffs are expected, according to Lighthizer. Currently, while tariffs remain in place, the two nations agreed to a ceasefire that will stop any future tariff announcements, if the two nations stay engaged in trade talks.

U.S. agriculture is eager for China to remove tariffs on U.S. farm products, and awaiting the Trump-announced China purchases of agricultural commodities, as part of the recent G20 talks between China and the United States.

House and Senate farm bill negotiators have released their long-awaited compromise bill that now heads for the full House and Senate.

As expected, the ’18 farm bill deal recedes to the Senate in leaving out tougher House GOP food stamp work requirements but pares SNAP funding by almost $1.1 billion. That, through improved data accuracy, quality control and cuts in aid to community food projects.

The final version keeps and expands the EQIP and CSP conservation programs and increases CRP acreage from 23-million acres to 27-million. Producers are given new flexibility to choose between ARC and PLC, with PLC reference prices allowed to float upwards based on 85-percent of five-year Olympic average, if there’s a rebound in market prices.

The AGI or adjusted gross income eligibility limit for farm payments remains at $900,000 and there’s no limit on the number of farm managers eligible for payments. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley had sought a limit of one, “actively-engage” manager. Instead, the final bill allows first cousins, nieces and nephews with invested capital, labor and management, to receive farm payments.

Ag staffers defended the practice in a Monday press briefing as a compromise to keep relatives on the farm, where costs are high and the average farmer’s age is more than 60.

Also, in the final bill is a new Dairy Margin Coverage program to help smaller dairies. Industrial hemp can now be covered by crop insurance contracts but is not eligible for Title 1 subsidies.

Leadership of the farm bill conference report late Monday released the text of the bill to be considered by Congress later this week.

The 2018 farm bill, titled the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, reflects a hard-fought bipartisan, bicameral agreement on a five-year farm bill to strengthen U.S. agricultural, according to leadership. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts thanked his counterparts, in announcing the text, for “coming to and staying at the table to reach a bipartisan” agreement. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway says “passing a farm bill this week that strengthens the farm safety net is vitally important.”

The conference report was signed by the Senate and House Farm Bill conferees and will be considered with a vote in both chambers, likely Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Agriculture Committee Chairmen Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Rep. K. Michael Conaway, R-Texas on Monday released the text of the bipartisan, bicameral 2018 Farm Bill conference report.

Click here to read the text of the report.

 

#FarmBill NEWS: The bipartisan, bicameral 2018 Farm Bill conference report is live! https://t.co/pePFpmyutZ pic.twitter.com/0j4pVE1wNI

— Sen. Ag Republicans (@SenateAgGOP) December 11, 2018

“The 2018 Farm Bill is our opportunity to make the American food and agriculture systems work more efficiently. I’m pleased to say we have done just that in this conference report,” said Chairman Roberts. “We started this journey nearly two years ago. Since then, the Senate Agriculture Committee has held dozens of hearings, listened to more than 90 witnesses, and received thousands of public comments. As promised, this farm bill provides much needed certainty and predictability for all producers – of all crops – across all regions across the country. I thank my counterparts in the Senate and House for coming to – and staying at – the table to reach a bipartisan, bicameral agreement for rural America.” 

“America’s farmers and ranchers are weathering the fifth year of severe recession, so passing a farm bill this week that strengthens the farm safety net is vitally important,” said Chairman Conaway. “I am grateful to the President, Secretary Perdue and my leadership for standing fast for the hard-working farm and ranch families that clothe and feed us. I also appreciate the members of the conference committee for bringing this process one step closer to completion.”

“By working across the aisle, we overcame many differences to deliver a strong, bipartisan farm bill for our farmers, families, and rural communities,” said Ranking Member Stabenow. “The 2018 Farm Bill is a good bill for our farmers and everyone who eats. Working together, we continued to expand the diversity of our agricultural economy, maintained a strong food and farm safety net, created new opportunities in our small towns and rural communities, and made significant investments in land and water conservation. Now is not the time to rest on our laurels – it’s time to get the bill across the finish line as soon as possible. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.”

“This bill is a strong start to addressing the issues our producers are facing right now, particularly our dairy farmers,” said Ranking Member Peterson. “The bill’s new provisions will offer more flexible coverage for lower cost when dairy farmers need it most, and provide producers more tools to manage their risk. It also invests $300 million in the prevention and response for animal pests and disease. More broadly, the bill invests in research, outreach to beginning & underserved producers, local and organic food production, bioenergy, and access to new markets. It also addresses broadband, farm stress and mental health issues, and the opioid epidemic in rural areas. It’s the product of strong bipartisan work in both the House and the Senate, and it’s something I’m proud to encourage folks to vote for.”

The Farm Bill Conference Committee held a public hearing on Sept. 5. Agriculture Committee leaders announced a deal on Nov. 29.

The conference report was signed by the Senate and House Farm Bill conferees and will be considered with a vote in

Schools across the country now have additional options in serving students meals that are both healthy and appealing according to the USDA. The USDA issued a final rule on school meals last week that said the rule increases local flexibility in implementing school nutrition standards for milk, whole grains, and sodium (salt).

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue says the final rule will deliver forward-thinking strategies that ensure school nutrition standards are both healthy and practical. “USDA is committed to serving meals that are both delicious and satisfying,” Perdue says. “These common-sense flexibilities provide excellent customer service to our local school nutrition professionals while giving children the world-class food service they deserve.”

The USDA actions will benefit almost 99,000 schools that feed 30 million children annually through the USDA’s school meal program. The new rule lets schools provide low-fat flavored milk to children in school lunch programs. It requires half of the weekly grains in school food programs to be whole grain-rich. It also gives schools more time to reduce salt levels in school meals.

However many nutrition and children’s health groups have expressed concern over the news rules, saying that they are progressing backwards over the nutrition standards that have made progress over the past decade. Including the loosening of sodium guidelines in the new rules.