Wisconsin U.S. Senators split vote on Farm Bill

The U.S. Senate’s version of the Farm Bill has passed. Reaction to the Farm Bill has been mixed from Wisconsin lawmakers, and one farm group.

Wisconsin’s Senators split their vote on the proposed five year, $500 million bill. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson voted against it. He proposed an amendment, that was later voted down, to split the farm bill into two bills and send both back to committee. One bill would address agriculture provisions, and the other on food assistance programs. He says the Farm Bill overall is a burden to the U.S.: “The only reason all these farm provisions are combined is so everyone can feed the federal trough, and the fact of the matter is, we’re bankrupting this nation.”

Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl voted for the Farm Bill. In a statement delivered on the Senate floor, he says the legislation includes important nutrition and agriculture programs

The Wisconsin Farmers Union says the bill is a win for farmers, but far from perfect. Tom Quinn is the executive director. He says improvements to the bill were made just this week, “One of the things we’re concerned about is that it doesn’t really have as much of a safety net for in event of a significant decline in farm prices, as it should have. But there is a safety net there that sort of got patched together in last few days.”

The Farm Bill now goes to the GOP-led house.