"I am pleased a majority of my House colleagues joined me in
supporting a five-year, comprehensive farm bill. I appreciate the
efforts of everyone who helped get us here. This is legislation we
can all be proud of because it fulfills the expectations the
American people have of us. They expect us to work together to find
ways to reduce the cost of the federal government. The Agricultural
Act contributes major savings to deficit reduction, significant
reforms to policy, and yet still provides a safety net, not only for
the production of American food and fiber, but also to ensure our
fellow citizens have enough food to eat. I am hopeful this
legislation will enjoy the same success when the Senate considers
it, and I encourage the president to sign it quickly into law,"
Lucas said.More information, including the
text of the legislation (PDF), is available at this
link.
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Farm policy reforms
The Agricultural Act of 2014 includes the most significant
reduction to farm policy spending in history by improving
agricultural programs.
-
Repeals direct
payments and limits producers to risk management tools that
offer protection when they suffer significant losses.
-
Limits on payments
are reduced, eligibility rules are tightened, and means tests
are streamlined to make farm programs more accountable.
-
Strengthens crop
insurance, a successful public-private partnership that ensures
farmers invest in their own risk management.
-
Provides historic
reforms to dairy policy by repealing outdated and ineffective
dairy programs. Offers producers a new, voluntary
margin-protection program without imposing government-mandated
supply controls.
-
Supports small businesses and beginning
farmers and ranchers with training and access to capital.
Food stamp reforms
The Agricultural Act of 2014 makes the first reforms to the food
stamp program since the welfare reforms of 1996, while maintaining
critical food assistance to families in need.
-
Closes the
"heat-and-eat" loophole that artificially increases benefit
levels when states provide nominal assistance in the Low Income
Home Energy Assistance Program.
-
Establishes a
10-state pilot to empower states to engage able-bodied adults in
mandatory work programs.
-
Prohibits USDA
from engaging in recruitment activities for the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program and advertising SNAP on TV, radio,
billboards and through foreign governments.
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Ensures
illegal immigrants, lottery winners, traditional college
students and the deceased do not receive benefits.
-
Ensures SNAP
recipients are not receiving benefits in multiple states.
-
Prevents
abuses such as water dumping to exchange bottles for cash.
-
Demands
outcomes from existing employment and training programs.
-
Prohibits
states from manipulating SNAP benefit levels by eliminating
medical marijuana as an allowable medical expense.
-
Allows states
to pursue retailer fraud through a pilot investigation
program and to crack down on trafficking through data
mining, terminal ID and other measures.
-
Increases assistance for food
banks.
Additional reforms and regulatory relief
The Agricultural Act of 2014 includes multiple regulatory relief
provisions benefiting agricultural and forestry industries.
-
Consolidates 23
duplicative and overlapping conservation programs into 13.
-
Provides one year
of full funding for the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program, known
as PILT, which provides funding for vital services in
communities containing federal lands.
-
Provides certainty
to the forest products industry by clarifying that forest roads
and related silvicultural activities should not be treated as a
point source under the Clean Water Act.
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Creates a
permanent subcommittee within the .Science Advisory Board of the
Environmental Protection Agency to conduct peer review of EPA
actions that would negatively affect agriculture.
-
Enhances
coordination between the U.S. Department of Agriculture, EPA,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration regarding the conflict between laws
governing pesticide use and the Endangered Species Act.
-
Enhances
coordination between USDA and the U.S. FWS regarding actions
taken to manage the lesser prairie chicken.
-
Eliminates duplicative reporting
requirements for seed importers; requires improved economic
analysis of Food and Drug Administration regulations.
[Text from
news release from the
U.S. House Committee on
Agriculture] |