Kentucky’s 1st District U.S Congressman James Comer helped to pass the house’s version of the federal farm bill Thursday.
Rep. Comer was one of 213 votes in favor of the Farm Bill. 211 other representatives voted ‘no’. The former Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture and current member of the House ag committee says much of the controversy in garnering support for the bill involved changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
“So the only people that would lose their food stamps or face cuts to their food stamps would be people that are deemed able bodied and who refused to work 20 hours a week,” said Rep. Comer.
Rep. Comer says work requirements for food assistance is the major difference between the Senate and House versions of the Farm Bill. He says the Senate version will likely get a vote next week. Rep. Comer says language that would legalize hemp, making it an ag commodity crop, is also in both versions.
Following the Senate’s action a conference committee will work out differences before sending the bill to the President. Rep. Comer says the bill was modeled largely off of the 2014 version, which expires in September.
