Boehner deflects question on nutrition title
July 11, 2013 | 01:11 PM
As debate on the rule governing consideration of the farm-program-only bill on the House floor continued, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, deflected a question on about whether he would bring to the floor a conference report with a nutrition title that the majority of House Republicans does not support.
“If ands and buts were candy and nuts, every day would be Christmas,” Boehner responded when a reporter at his weekly news conference asked that question. Boehner said his goal at the moment is to get the farm-program-only bill passed, and that he will “get to that” question later.
Boehner also acknowledged that bringing up the farm bill on a closed rule is “unusual,” given his usual aversion to that practice, but he contended that the bill is the same as the one offered on June 20 “with the exception of one or two sentences.”
Boehner was apparently referring to the elimination of the nutrition title and the repeal of permanent laws and their replacement with the 2013 Title I provisions as permanent law.
Meanwhile, as House Democrats used procedural maneuvers to slow down consideration of the rule, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a floor speech that the bill “bears no resemblance” to the bill that came out of the House Agriculture Committee on a bipartisan basis and was considered before.
Praising the Congressional Black Caucus’s opposition to the bill, Pelosi said “the audacity” to split off the food stamp program would “be stunning” and might be “the worst thing” the House Republicans have done but that “there is so much competition.”
Reactions to the farm-program-only bill continued to come in as the House debate continued.
The Coalition for Sugar Reform, which represents sweetener users, urged a “no” vote on the bill. while the National Pork Producers urged members to vote for it as a way to get the bill to conference with the Senate.
“If ands and buts were candy and nuts, every day would be Christmas,” Boehner responded when a reporter at his weekly news conference asked that question. Boehner said his goal at the moment is to get the farm-program-only bill passed, and that he will “get to that” question later.
Boehner also acknowledged that bringing up the farm bill on a closed rule is “unusual,” given his usual aversion to that practice, but he contended that the bill is the same as the one offered on June 20 “with the exception of one or two sentences.”
Boehner was apparently referring to the elimination of the nutrition title and the repeal of permanent laws and their replacement with the 2013 Title I provisions as permanent law.
Meanwhile, as House Democrats used procedural maneuvers to slow down consideration of the rule, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a floor speech that the bill “bears no resemblance” to the bill that came out of the House Agriculture Committee on a bipartisan basis and was considered before.
Praising the Congressional Black Caucus’s opposition to the bill, Pelosi said “the audacity” to split off the food stamp program would “be stunning” and might be “the worst thing” the House Republicans have done but that “there is so much competition.”
Reactions to the farm-program-only bill continued to come in as the House debate continued.
The Coalition for Sugar Reform, which represents sweetener users, urged a “no” vote on the bill. while the National Pork Producers urged members to vote for it as a way to get the bill to conference with the Senate.
