‘Big four’ meet on farm bill conference
October 16, 2013 | 03:40 PM
The chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Agriculture committees met today and made plans for the farm bill conference, a spokeswoman for House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., has told The Hagstrom Report.
“Depending on the House and Senate schedules, the first, formal conference meeting could be scheduled as early as next week,” the spokeswoman said.
Lucas, ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., met on the House side, the source said.
The House and the Senate take turns chairing farm bill conferences, and it is Lucas’s turn to chair. Then-Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chaired the 2008 conference.
Lucas said the House would hold its first conference meeting next week if the House is in session or the week following if the House is in recess. Stabenow said that she and Lucas would be in frequent contact.
There are signals that after the House votes on a bill to re-open the government and increase the debt ceiling late today or early Thursday, members will go home. But there has not been an indication when they will return.
“Depending on the House and Senate schedules, the first, formal conference meeting could be scheduled as early as next week,” the spokeswoman said.
Lucas, ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., met on the House side, the source said.
The House and the Senate take turns chairing farm bill conferences, and it is Lucas’s turn to chair. Then-Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chaired the 2008 conference.
Lucas said the House would hold its first conference meeting next week if the House is in session or the week following if the House is in recess. Stabenow said that she and Lucas would be in frequent contact.
There are signals that after the House votes on a bill to re-open the government and increase the debt ceiling late today or early Thursday, members will go home. But there has not been an indication when they will return.
