Farm Bill advances without controversial “Save Our Bacon Act”
The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced the Farm Bill on Wednesday on a party-line vote, despite Republican in-fighting over a failed effort to bring forward a “Save Our Bacon Act” amendment that would have weakened state animal welfare laws.
The Senate version of the Farm Bill — a massive piece of legislation renewed roughly every five years that guides the federal government’s food and farm policy — passed 12-11 and will next head to the Senate floor where it will undergo further debate and possible amendments.
Democrats on the committee voted against the bill, and have made it clear throughout committee markups that they will not vote for a Farm Bill unless it has at least a two-year delay to Republicans’ current requirement that states bear some of the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The passage of the draft bill Wednesday came as Sen. Mitch McConnell made his return to the Senate.
The current Senate version of the Farm Bill omitted a controversial provision — which was included in the House version — that would have prevented states from having stricter animal welfare laws than other states. Powerful industry groups and allies in Congress have been pushing for the provision in response to California’s Proposition 12 and Massachusetts’ Question 3 — both of which require that hogs, calves and chickens that are confined on farms or sold in the states are raised with adequate room to turn around, lie down and extend their limbs.
Animal welfare advocates applauded the bill’s advancement without the provision.
“As expected, the Senate Agriculture Committee leadership pointedly refused to let special interests poison the Farm Bill with the problematic and polarizing Save Our Bacon Act, which could overturn the hard-won progress states have made for farmed animals along with hundreds of other state laws that help keep communities healthy and safe,” Sara Amundson, president of Humane World Action Fund, said in a statement.
In Wednesday’s meeting, Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa, repeatedly pushed for a committee vote on an amendment she brought that would prevent other states from passing similar laws, which she said would “create an unaffordable patchwork” for farmers across the country. The details of Sen. Ernst’s amendment were not outlined, but she said it was aimed at Proposition 12.
Similar efforts in the past aimed to bar state or local governments from requiring certain protections for animals at farms, including at concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs.
Ernst brought up the amendment right after Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, a Republican from Arkansas, opened the meeting. Sen. Boozman said the time had passed for amendments and instead started a roll-call while Sen. Ernst kept talking over the roll call votes.
“We are not even given an opportunity to bring this up for a vote. Iowa’s livestock producers deserve more than expressions of support, they deserve an honest debate, which we were denied today,” Sen. Ernst said.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, supported Ernst, saying it was “stupid that we don’t have a chance to bring Iowa’s interest in this debate.”
Sen. Boozman said he works “very hard to protect the rights of everyone here.”
But “we’re not opening the bill up again,” he said.
The Senate bill will need to clear 60 votes, which means the Republican majority — with 53 seats — needs some support from Democrats, who hold 45 seats, and the two Independents.
Featured image by Steven Weeks on Unsplash.
