Contact: Todd Deutsch 202-224-9921

Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, released the following statement today after the House of Representatives passed its version of a Farm Bill.

I am pleased the House finally passed legislation to move us closer to passing into law a five-year Farm Bill. However, I am concerned the bill that does not address nutrition policies. Passing a Farm Bill into law requires bipartisan support, something the House has shown no interest in. House members – who passed their bill by a razor thin margin with only Republican support – needs to work in a bipartisan fashion to get this work done.  

Authorizing nutrition policies in the Farm Bill is necessary to maintaining the critical urban-rural coalition that has been relied upon to pass Farm Bills for the past four decades. Breaking this coalition and severing ties between farm and table is a mistake that weakens the chances that a five-year reauthorization of the Farm Bill becomes law.

I encourage my colleagues in both the House and the Senate to conference this legislation into a product that can pass both chambers of Congress. I am committed to passing a five-year Farm Bill into law that provides the certainty that is desperately needed in our state and in rural communities throughout the country. The farmers and ranchers of North Dakota deserve nothing less.

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