U.S. farm bill faces final vote Tuesday
| Washington
Long-delayed聽farm聽legislation easily cleared a procedural hurdle on Monday in the U.S.聽Senate, with final passage of the nearly $1 trillion U.S. farm bill聽expected as early as Tuesday.
罢丑别听House of Representatives聽last week overwhelmingly passed the sweeping measure that trims food stamps for the poor, expands federal crop insurance, consolidates agricultural conservation programs and ends direct payments to farmers.
The 72-22 Senate vote in favor of advancing the聽bill聽suggests it should have no trouble passing the Democratic-led chamber when it comes up for a final vote, which could come on Tuesday.
罢丑别听White House聽has said President聽Barack Obama聽would sign it into law.
"This is a new kind of聽farm聽bill聽designed to meet new challenges of a changing world,"聽Senate Agriculture Committee听颁丑补颈谤飞辞尘补苍听Debbie Stabenow, a聽Michigan聽Democrat and one of the four principal negotiators of the legislation, said on the聽Senate聽floor before the vote.
"We are also making major reforms, eliminating unnecessary, and unjustified programs to cut government spending and to increase the integrity of聽farm聽programs," she said.
The $956 billion legislation is expected to save about $16.6 billion over 10 years compared with current funding, according to the聽Congressional Budget Office. Using a different scoring, congressional leaders put the savings at $23 billion.
罢丑别听bill, which is supposed to be passed every five years, is more than a year overdue after congressional negotiators struggled to forge a compromise.
About $8 billion in savings over 10 years comes from cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, which accounts for more than three-quarters of the聽bill's spending. The program provides funds to about 47 million low-income people to buy food.
The food stamp cut was well below the $40 billion reduction advocated by the Republican-led House, but still double the amount originally supported by the聽Senate.
