Reacting to the House passage late Friday of a bill to go to conference with the Senate on the farm bill, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., said they are ready and eager to start.

“I’m pleased that the House has agreed to join the Senate in a conference committee. Senators worked across the aisle to overwhelmingly pass bipartisan farm bills the last two years in a row,” Stabenow said.

“If that same bipartisanship endures in the conference committee, we will cut tens of billions of dollars in unnecessary spending, make major reforms to improve crop insurance and strengthen other risk management tools, streamline and strengthen conservation and nutrition programs, and create jobs by investing in rural America. It’s past time to get this done,” she said.

“The table will be for us to work on a long-term farm bill that is equitable to all producers in all regions of the country,” Cochran said.

“The task before us is urgent,” he said. “I am ready and optimistic about working with our House counterparts to resolve significant differences and put in place policies that work well for the agriculture industry, American consumers and the economy.”