Congressman Paul Gosar voted against H.R.2642, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management (FARRM) Act, also known as the Farm Bill. Congressman Ron Barber voted for the five-year Farm Bill extending most major federal farm and nutrition assistance programs through fiscal year 2018.
The bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 251 to 166.
After the vote, Rep. Gosar said, “This is the second bill this month that was brought to the House floor for a vote less than 48 hours after it was introduced. At 959 pages, this bill is too long for anyone to read and digest in such a short time frame. This is a negative pattern that can’t become a habit. We must reverse this trend.”
“In addition to the limited time we were given for review, I voted against the Farm Bill because it’s bad legislation,” continued Rep. Gosar. “It continues the flawed practice of combining agricultural legislation with safety net programs like food stamps. These are two very different things that should be aired out and debated by the American people as separate issues. Moreover, the bill didn’t include a work requirement for SNAP benefits and most of the savings from the original House-passed Farm Bill evaporated in conference committee. Finally, the conference committee report stripped important House-passed language modifying certain livestock regulations, which will have an overall negative impact on Arizona’s livestock industry – a sizable component of Arizona’s economy.”
Gosar previously voted in favor of Farm Bill provisions that sought to institute major reforms to the agricultural industry. He fought to have the agricultural provisions separated from the nutrition assistance provisions and eventually, those votes were separated. The conference report between the House and Senate stripped those reforms, again combined the agricultural and nutrition provisions, and increased spending over what the House previously passed.
Barber said, “Once this bill is approved by the Senate, it will be signed into law by the president for the betterment of the American people and southern Arizona.”
Barber said in a statement released Wednesday that a key part of the bill for Arizona is the inclusion of funding for the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program, which reimburses counties for their inability to collect property taxes for federal land in their jurisdictions. He argued that this untaxable land poses a major financing burden for these local governments.
Last year, Cochise County received about $2 million from the program, and Pima County received nearly $3 million.
Last June, Barber voted to pass a comprehensive Farm Bill – but that version of the legislation failed to pass the House. A month later, Barber voted against a Farm Bill that did not include funding for nutrition programs.