Broken Promise: House Shamefully Passes Closed-Rule Farm Bill

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance has been covering the actions of both the Senate and House regarding the Farm Bill over the last few months.    It was disappointing to see the Senate pass a version without giving any opportunity for an open-amendment process as a way for meaningful reforms, but the House seemed to be a glimmer of hope… or so we thought.

Shortly after passage of the Senate Farm Bill, Speaker of the House John Boehner pledged there would be an open process in the House and that members of both parties would have the opportunity to submit amendments so that all reforms could be considered in the crafting of their version of the Farm Bill:

“The Leader and I will encourage the Rules Committee to provide a fair process that will allow for a vigorous and open debate — the kind of process I pledged we would have more of in the House when I became speaker…”

The first vote on the Farm Bill in the House failed and it was unclear what the next move by the leadership would be, considering the number of Republicans that defected to vote against the original version. The tide seemed to take a turn in favor of renewed action on the legislation when earlier this week the House moved to introduce a spilt bill, whereby utilizing the approach Rep. Martin Stutzman (R-Ind.) sought to amend in the original bill separating the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) components from the agriculture policy components. Leadership was hopeful that by making the Farm Bill a “Farm-Only” bill, the chances of mass defections in a final vote would be less likely.

However, there was still the question of how amending the bill would actually play out. Even though the Speaker promised an open process where amendments would be encouraged and allowed to be considered, on Wednesday July 10, legislative action took a bad turn for taxpayers and transparency when House Republican leadership signaled that the new farm only Farm Bill was being rushed without the chance for amendments, not only breaking the promise of an open process, but even violating the House GOP’s standards of allowing legislation to be available for viewing for at least three days before voting. Why the leadership would refuse to allow the chance for meaningful reform on crop insurance, farm subsidies, shallow loss, and a host of programs that are in dire need of change is beyond the realm of explanation.

Yesterday (Thursday) morning the House called for a procedural vote on the closed rule and after heated debate on both sides about the separation aspect of the legislation, the vote to proceed passed with 223 Republicans voting yes, including a substantial amount of those who originally voted against the legislation only mere weeks ago. The lone Republican to vote against the rule was Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and the Taxpayers Protection Alliance applauds Congressman Jones for his vote.  It was absolutely disappointing that those Republicans who felt simply splitting the bill was enough, it was not even close to enough. The final vote on passage was 216-208 with 12 Republicans voting against. The fact of the matter is that had 11 of those 12 Republicans who voted against the bill voted AGAINST the rule, the chance for real reform would still be viable. This was a stunning and disappointing move burdening taxpayers at a time when they are already feeling the heat from all directions of the federal government.

This Congress should be embarrassed that they abandoned the very standards they pledged to live up to and broke promises made to constituents only a few weeks ago; and all to rush passage on a bad bill that will cost more on the agriculture side than what the Senate passed, and what President Obama called for… inexplicable.