CRAIG CRITICIZES “SKINNY” FARM BILL AS PARTISAN MEASURE

Congresswoman Angie Craig says the House Agriculture Committee’s passage of the so-called “skinny” farm bill this (Thursday) morning was anything but bipartisan.  Craig, the committee’s ranking Democrat, argued the proposal fails to address key challenges facing producers and families.  In the hearing, she told members the bill “will not restore lost export markets or lower input costs.  It doesn’t help American children, seniors and veterans afford their groceries, or states and counties avoid an unfunded mandate that shifted those SNAP costs to them.”  Craig also said the legislation ignores hemp farmers in Minnesota and other states and leaves out year-round E-15 provisions supported by Midwest corn growers.  Republican Congressman Brad Finstad defended the package, saying it is written “by farmers for farmers and by rural Americans for rural America.”