By Brian Bienkowski
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.
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