With only two weekdays until a simultaneous government shutdown and farm bill expiration at midnight Tuesday, both Capitol Hill publication Roll Call and the Congressional Research Service (CRS) have examined the ramifications of the one-two punch on agriculture. Roll Call this week released an article detailing the potential impacts of a government shutdown on the U.S. Department of Agriculture, while CRS last week issued a report, pasted below, on which programs authorized or funded through the extended 2008 Farm Bill would continue, and which would cease in the event Congress allows the bill to expire on Monday night.

With regard to the farm bill, the House has yet to begin the necessary procedure of marrying the two bills it passed as a result of separating the farm bill into separate food and farm pieces. It will need to do so before a bill can be sent to conference with the Senate. Additionally, Speaker John Boehner has yet to name conferees for those negotiations. ASA and other farm groups have been vocal in our demands that conferees be named and the process move forward.

As for the Continuing Resolution, the fate of the CR in both chambers rests on the Senate’s ability to move its version off the floor and back to the House, and the House’s ability to pass a resolution that will likely lack its provision to defund the Affordable Care Act.

As the process moves forward, ASA will keep members updated on developments, as well as projected impacts on soybean farmers.

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