The House Agriculture Committee on Friday unveiled a five-year farm bill ahead of the scheduled Feb. 23 markup of a measure that could divide members across regional lines as much as political ones.
The draft bill would set intoxicant testing requirements for hemp, give the EPA sole authority for pesticide labeling, restrict states from setting animal cruelty standards that apply to other states, and move the orphaned Food for Peace program to the Agriculture Department from the shuttered U.S. Agency for International Development.
The issues are to some extent more regional than political, with members from both parties supporting provisions important to their states. The farm bill has historically balanced Republicans’ rural interests with Democrats’ urban ones to secure enough votes for passage.
