House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., today named their negotiators to serve on the House-Senate conference committee charged with resolving differences between the House and Senate-passed farm bills.

The Republican list of conferees includes 12 members of the House Agriculture Committee and one member designated by the House leadership on the overall bill, plus two members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and two members of the House Ways and Mean Committee to negotiate on certain sections of the bill.

The Democratic list includes nine members of the Agriculture Committee and one member designated by Pelosi on the overall bill, plus one member of Foreign Affairs and one member of Ways and Means.

Notably, neither Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., a former House Agriculture Committee chairman, nor Rep. David Scott, D-Ga, the ranking member on the General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittee, were named conferees.

That appears to be a victory for dairy farmers since Goodlatte and Scott have opposed the dairy program that Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., wrote and that is included in the Senate farm bill. The House added an amendment on the House floor that eliminated a provision that dairy processors consider to be unacceptable supply management.

“The farm bill extension measures passed by the House include much-needed reforms that cut spending and help strengthen our agriculture and food stamp programs,” Boehner said in a news release.

“I’m confident that the negotiating team named today will do an excellent job of ushering these reforms through Congress and to the president’s desk, and I thank each of them for their willingness to serve.”

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., also issued a statement.

“I am pleased to be at this point in the farm bill process where we are about to begin negotiations with our friends in the Senate and put a final bill together,” Lucas said.

“This has been a long and challenging process, but that does not discount the product we have achieved with billions of dollars in savings and reforms, and policy that works for all of agriculture all across the country. There are challenging issues yet to overcome, but we have a solid team of negotiators in place. I am confident we can reach consensus and send a five-year farm bill to the president.”

The Democratic leadership did not follow the tradition of appointing every subcommittee ranking member as a conferee, since it did not include Scott.

Pelosi designated Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, the chairman of the Department Operations, Oversight and Nutrition Subcommittee, as her representative on the conference committee.

The Democratic list includes Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., who is the No. 2 ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., who is a longtime nutrition advocate, and Reps. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Calif., and Filemon Vela, D-Texas.

“When millions of American are struggling to put food on the table, it is long past time for Congress to go to the negotiating table and pass a farm bill that will provide much-needed nutrition support for our children, our seniors, and our communities,” Pelosi said. “These House Democrats will offer an extraordinary level of leadership, dedication, and wide-ranging expertise in our work to restore stability to our farmers and ranchers, our rural communities, and American families across the country.”

“Earlier this summer, House Republicans barely passed a partisan farm bill that failed to include provisions from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and passed without a single Democratic vote,” Pelosi continued.

“In doing so, they turned their back on a long history of bipartisanship as well as the economic security of millions of Americans. House Democrats are ready to come to the table and reauthorize farm programs along with SNAP for five years instead of allowing House Republicans to decouple important nutrition programs from the rest of the farm bill.”

Peterson also issued a statement.

“Appointing conferees might be a sign that, after repeatedly delaying and undermining the Agriculture Committee’s work, Republican leaders are finally getting serious about the farm bill,” Peterson said.

“Conferees are committed to working together and getting a farm bill done but bringing divisive resolutions to a vote and appointing conferees outside the Agriculture Committee has made our jobs a lot harder.”

“The Democratic conferees represent our caucus and bring a great deal of expertise to the process," Peterson added. “I am hopeful that if Republican Leadership can be reasonable and leave the conference committee alone to do its work that we will be able to finish a five-year, comprehensive farm bill this year.”

Republican conferees

Here are the Republican members who will serve on the farm bill conference. All are members of the House Agriculture Committee, unless otherwise noted.

• Steve Southerland, R-Fla. - Leadership conferee
• Frank Lucas, R-Okla.
• Steve King, R-Iowa
• Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas
• Mike Rogers, R-Ala.
• Michael Conaway, R-Texas
• Glenn Thompson, R-Pa.
• Austin Scott, R-Ga.
• Rick Crawford, R-Ark.
• Martha Roby, R-Ala.
• Kristi Noem, R-S.D.
• Jeff Denham, R-Calif.
• Rodney Davis, R-Ill.
• Ed Royce, R-Calif. - Foreign Affairs Committee
• Tom Marino, R-Pa. - Foreign Affairs Committee
• Dave Camp, R-Mich. - Ways & Means Committee
• Sam Johnson, R-Texas - Ways & Means Committee

Democratic conferees

Here are the Democratic members who will serve on the farm bill conference. All are members of the House Agriculture Committee, unless otherwise noted.

• Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio – Leader’s representative
• Collin Peterson, D-Minn.
• Mike McIntyre, D-N.C.
• Jim Costa, D-Calif.
• Timothy Walz, D-Minn.
• Kurt Schrader, D-Ore.
• Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
• Suzan DelBene, D-Wash.
• Filemon Vela, D-Texas
• Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Calif.

• Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. - Foreign Affairs Committee
• Sander Levin, D-Mich. - Ways & Means Committee