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Minnesota U.S. Senator confident farm bill gets enough votes

A U.S. Senator and member of the Senate Ag Committee is confident Congress will find the necessary votes to pass the farm bill.

Minnesota Democrat Tina Smith tells Brownfield the conference report has been approved by an extensive group of legislators.

“And, I think even more importantly the work that we did on such a bipartisan basis.  It took a few months, but the strong bipartisan work…I think we need to see more of that in Washington, D.C.  And I think this could be a model for how we can get important pieces of legislation done.”

With the House vote tentatively set for Thursday, she says it remains unclear when the full Senate will take up the farm bill.

“We are not sure yet exactly what the process is going to be and who’s going to vote first.  But there seems to be no doubt that we’re all going to vote and will then go to the President and we’ll urge him to sign it into law.”

Smith says the 2018 Farm Bill provides a strong safety net for dairy farmers, resources to expand rural broadband, and important energy provisions.