News

Government shutdown continues

Non-essential government services remain closed, as the partial government shutdown continues. 

House Democrats again passed an appropriations bill Thursday that would reopen USDA’s Farm Service Agency, food inspections, and provide long-term funding for the SNAP program, but like a previous House bill, it is unlikely to receive a vote in the Senate since it does not include the border security funding President Trump has asked for.

Congresswomen Cheri Bustos of Illinois helped pass the legislation that, if passed by the senate, will also restore funding to the Peoria Ag Lab.

Bustos says the shutdown is a childish decision that is risking public health, halting groundbreaking research and threatening the trade assistance that farmers were promised. Bustos says the House bill passed Thursday is “virtually identical to legislation that previously passed the Senate with a 92-6 vote and overwhelming bipartisan support” but the Senate passed the bill last September before the current deadlock on border security funding.

The shutdown began when Washington was unable to agree on a funding package before December 22^nd, and agencies including FSA ran out of money in the first week of January.