‘Big Four’ huddle today on farm bill By RYAN
Post# of 85548
By RYAN MCCRIMMON 09/26/2018 10:06 AM EDT
With help from Helena Bottemiller Evich, Catherine Boudreau and Liz Crampton
BIG FOUR MEET TODAY AS CLOCK RUNS DOWN ON FARM BILL: The four principals from the House and Senate agriculture committees are huddling this morning to continue negotiating, even as it looks increasingly unlikely that Congress will act before the current law expires this Sunday night.
Speaking with reporters late Tuesday, House Ag Chairman Mike Conaway pulled out the farm bill countdown he has on his phone. The Texas Republican would not discuss whether he thinks Congress needs to extend current law if it can’t reach a bicameral deal on H.R. 2 (115) this week.
“I’m unwilling to have that conversation with anybody as long as there’s still time on the clock,” he said. But Conaway acknowledged that in previous cycles when the law expired, “the world didn’t stop turning.”
Keep on trucking: The House is scheduled to be in session for the next two weeks, though that could change as members are eager to campaign ahead of the midterms. Regardless, both Conaway and House ranking member Collin Peterson said they are willing to stay in town to keep farm bill talks going.
“Putting this off makes no sense whatsoever,” Conaway said, adding: “I assure you, I’m not very smart right now but I won’t be any smarter in October. The decisions to be made are on the table; you simply have to have the will to make them.”
The slow go: “It’s going slow, but we’re making progress,” Peterson told POLITICO late Tuesday, noting that the key lawmakers hoped to make some progress in their meeting this morning.