The strained farm bill negotiations have erupted in partisan bickering amid darkening prospects for reaching an agreement by the end of the year to replace the 2014 law that expired Sunday.

 

No further meetings of the four lead negotiators have been scheduled as of this weekend, although House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas, has asked Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., to set one up this week.

 

Conaway issued a statement on Friday blaming Senate negotiators for the impasse. “Right now, I don’t get the sense that getting something done has quite the sense of urgency with my Senate colleagues as it does with me,” he said.

 

A GOP member of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Ralph Abraham of Louisiana, was more direct, pinning the blame on Sen. Debbie Stabenow, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee and one of the four lead negotiators along with Roberts, Conaway and House Agriculture’s ranking Democrat, Collin Peterson of Minnesota.

 

“Each time, we think we have an agreement, Stabenow and Senate Democrats move the goal posts, asking for ridiculous things like crop insurance for roof top gardens and other urban farm priorities,” Abraham said.

 

But a committee Democrat, Illinois Rep. Cheri Bustos, laid the blame on House Republicans, who she said “refused to compromise, even with senators from their own party.”

 

A spokesperson for the Senate Agriculture Committee Democrats issued a statement saying, “From the start, the Senate has recognized the importance of passing a Farm Bill on time, which is why the Senate bill moved quickly and passed on a historic bipartisan vote. The Senate leaders are working tirelessly on a bipartisan basis to reach a final agreement. If House Republicans are serious about getting this done, they should put politics aside and focus on working towards a compromise.”

 

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