U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri says she will spend much of the August congressional recess talking about the farm bill, which is hung up in a legislative impasse.
Hopes are dim for compromise on the legislation after the Senate approved a five-year plan regulating farm programs and food stamps, but the House signed off on a bill dealing only with farm programs. McCaskill says Republican efforts to make sharp cuts to the food stamp program are holding up the farm bill, which she says is unfair to farmers in Missouri.
“The notion that we have got them in limbo like this, permanent limbo it seems, year and year, it’s disgraceful and I’m embarrassed, and I am frustrated and I really hope my colleagues in the House realize that there’s nothing evil about compromise,” McCaskill said.
The House is expected to take up a food stamp bill when it returns from a five-week vacation in early September.