The Heritage Foundation
Farm Bill Uprising: No More Business as Usual
By Rob Bluey 

Members of Congress are listening to you. 

Yesterday the U.S. House rejected a nearly trillion-dollar food stamp and farm bill — an important victory for taxpayers and a stinging rebuke for the Washington establishment. 

Sixty-two Republicans bucked their own party to vote against the bloated bill. Coupled with a large bloc of Democrats who wanted more spending on food stamps, the bipartisan opposition was enough to sink the measure. It’s unclear if or when House leaders will bring the bill back to the floor for a vote. 

Remember, there are no permanent victories in Washington. But this is one for conservatives to celebrate as a win for taxpayers and a reaffirmation of fiscal responsibility. 

Rejection of the farm bill also has significant implications for the debate happening on immigration reform. As senators continue to play political games to justify their support for amnesty, conservatives in the House will no doubt look to the farm bill debate as an indication of what can happen when the American people are informed and engaged. 

Nearly a year ago, Heritage Action CEO Michael Needham and Representative Marlin Stutzman (R-IN) wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the unholy alliance between food stamps and agriculture policy must end. 

Congress failed to take that advice, preferring to stick with the status quo.The farm bill was not only loaded with expensive programs and subsidies, but it would have also locked in President Obama’s massive expansion of spending on food stamps.

Stutzman, a fourth-generation farmer from Indiana, commented after the vote: 

Hoosiers sent me here to change the way Washington works and I’m pleased that my colleagues have joined me in rejecting the old path of business as usual. While it might have been called a ‘Farm Bill,’ the American people understand that it was anything but. 

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