Patrick Leahy: “Each of us worked closely with the distinguished Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Agriculture to ensure…”

“Each of us worked closely with the distinguished Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Agriculture to ensure that the nutrition title of the pending legislation represents an important step forward to improve the program's ability to help low-income children, working poor, and the elderly. As a former chairman of the Agriculture Committee, I know the importance of achieving balance in a farm bill. To ensure broad, bipartisan and bicameral support, a farm bill must have a strong nutrition title that benefits urban and suburban areas that feel less of a direct stake in the agricultural provisions of the bill. I think the pending legislation has that. Unfortunately, the bill passed by the other body earlier this fall does not. A mere $3.6 billion out of a $73.5 billion farm bill does not come close to representing balance and leaves unmet too many of the urgent nutritional needs of low-income families in urban, suburban, and rural areas alike.”