House Republican leaders pick up the pieces this week after another embarrassing defeat on a farm bill, which was weighed down yet again by controversial food stamp reforms before sinking because of an intra-party feud over immigration policy.

 

There are several ways the GOP could resurrect the farm bill, one of which is to bring the bill back up as a new piece of legislation, likely in June after the week-long Memorial Day recess.

 

That would mean the House could be moving again almost simultaneously with the Senate version. Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., wants his committee to act on its bill in early June, although he and the committee’s ranking Democrat, Debbie Stabenow, are still unable to reach agreement on several major issues.

 

“What this does is put the House and Senate a little more on the same time frame,” said Dale Moore, executive director of public policy for the American Farm Bureau Federation.

 

Also this week, the Senate Appropriations subcommittees on Tuesday will act on the fiscal 2019 spending bills for the Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration and for the Army Corps of Engineers.

 

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