Farm Bill Passed By Senate

The United States Senate passed the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 (S.3240), which is their version of the 2012 Farm Bill. The House still has to take up their own version of a Farm Bill and, if/once passed, the two chambers will meet in conference to hammer out a consensus piece of legislation.

The Senate version has been scored at nearly $100 billion/year (about 80% of which stems from the food stamp program), but contains approximately $23 billion in cuts from the previous legislation which was key in the current budget conscious policy arena. Still, the House is seen as a much more penny-pinching body and could have a harder battle in front of it.

This link from the New York Times is a interesting perspective on how the votes shook out on the floor.