House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas is planning legislation to extend the most recent farm bill through April. The most current farm bill was initially passed in 2008.
After the House and Senate passed their own versions of a new farm bill during the summer of 2013, the bill has since moved on to a conference committee to enable the two Houses to hash out the differences between the two pieces of legislation.
With the calendar year about to run out, Lucas said he believes it would be better to extend the most recent farm bill, rather than to rush to pass a new farm bill.
"We have made great progress on the farm bill and continue to have productive meetings," Lucas stated December 11 after meeting with other Congressional agriculture principals."There are still some outstanding issues that we are addressing. I am confident we'll work through them and finish a farm bill in January. Concurrent with our ongoing discussions this week, I will file legislation to extend the current farm bill through January to allow us to finish our work without the threat that permanent law will be implemented. Having this option on the table is the responsible thing to do in light of our tight deadline."
