WWW.EASYIME.COM

What you should know about the Farm Bill

What is the Farm Bill?

The Farm Bill is the main agricultural and food policy of the federal government in the United States which is passed every 5 years by the Congress to make amendments and suspensions to permanent law provisions and enact new policy provisions for a limited period of time.

It also amends, reauthorizes or repeals provisions of the previous agricultural acts. Farm Bills include titles on food and nutrition programs, conservation, agricultural research, trade, commodity programs, rural development, farm credit, etc. Since they have a wide reaching impact in the fields of food safety, international trade, environmental conservation and the welfare of rural communities, these are a matter of grave importance and are usually controversial leading to intense debate in the Congress.

Current Status:

The current Farm Bill in the President’s priority list is called the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2013. This is one of the two farm bills that have been introduced in the 113th US Congress. This bill was introduced in the Senate. The other bill called the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013 was introduced in the House of Representatives. Although, the bills cover similar programs and topics, the provisions laid down are far different from each other. The Farm Bill was passed in the Senate on 10th June. 2013 – and is the version that the President currently supports.

The Senate Farm Bill 2013 is believed to cut the federal spending of $24 billion over a decade. It would still cost $955 billion over the decade.

Controversy:

A controversial provision in the Senate Farm Bill is a cut of $4 billion to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) where Republicans argued that the cuts were not enough to cut the deficit while Democrats argued the cuts were too large.

Provisions of the Bill:

It complies with current environmental standards to receive subsidized crop insurance. Currently, government offers a subsidy onto 85 percent of the farmer’s revenue. Another provision is where subsidies will be shifted away from direct payments to farmers. This will be done by eliminating an old program currently providing $5 billion in subsidies for farm land owners and farmers whether they grow crops or not. An amendment is also offered where a pilot program will be implemented to provide internet access in rural areas. The current conservation programs would be cut by $3.5 billion. It also covers international food aid programs where the senate version increases a spending of $20 million to $60 million. New subsidies will be introduced for Southern rice and peanut farmers.

The Senate Farm Bill will also reduce food stamps spending by $4 billion over the decade.

easyIME.com is a free service, which streamlines the immigration medical process for green card aspirants by helping them locate the right USCIS Civil Surgeon and schedule their USCIS immigration medical exam online. Green card aspirants can also find immigration lawyers near their zip code through this service. Read Latest Immigration News.