Eric Cantor, who played a big part in the bill's collapse, is leading the drive. House GOP may split farm bill in two

Moving further to the right, the House Republican leadership is actively pursuing a strategy of splitting its failed farm bill into two parts so that the nutrition title and food stamps funding can each be considered on its own.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is driving the new approach, which dovetails with the agenda of outside conservative groups. But Speaker John Boehner’s office signaled Thursday that he also is open to the two-bill strategy and a final decision will be made after the July 4 recess.


“We are going with this play and see where it gets us,” a senior leadership aide told POLITICO. “We are trying to break the bill apart to get something to conference with the Senate.”

The upshot seems almost certain to be more turmoil for the House Agriculture Committee leadership. There continued to be tense exchanges Thursday with Cantor, who played a major role in the collapse of the farm bill last week. And in trying to solve one political problem, GOP leaders may only be creating another.

The Senate, in adopting its own farm bill earlier this month, treated food stamps and commodity programs together as a whole — much as they have been for decades.

Even if successful in getting out of the House, the two-bill strategy raises real parliamentary problems about what the scope of future House-Senate talks would be. Leadership aides admitted some uncertainty as to whether negotiators will be able to meld the two pieces back together again. And the commodity title of the farm bill includes tariff provisions that make it technically a revenue measure.

For Boehner and larger American agriculture interests, the two-bill approach represents a major challenge: Do they allow themselves to be whittled down more from the right or embrace a larger reform agenda that rebuilds the old urban-rural coalition more from the middle?

The food stamps fight has dominated farm bill politics to date. But last week’s floor debate also reflected a bipartisan appetite for more reforms in crop insurance and international food aid — a path that could attract votes from both sides of the aisle.

It is possible that the food stamps issue has become so toxic that Democrats will be reluctant to come on board. But they, like agriculture, have a stake in keeping alive the partnership that has worked so long.

Boehner brings some history here as a former member of the House Agriculture Committee. More than Cantor, he retains a working relationship with Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, the ranking Democrat.

The committee leaders face criticism themselves for being too hesitant in pushing larger reforms. But they could have a common stake with the speaker now in trying to find more middle ground.

“I told John, `We need to get together and fix this, and the sooner the better,’” Peterson told POLITICO of his conversations with the speaker. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), a friend of the speaker with a background in farm debates, may be enlisted in the effort.

Indeed moving far to the right on the farm bill can become a trap for the speaker.

It exposes him to attacks from conservatives down the road, when the final House-Senate conference report — which will almost certainly be a more centrist document — comes back to the House floor.

And at a time when Boehner is trying to shape some intellectual defense for House Republicans on far bigger issues like immigration reform, he is made to look ineffective, unable to lead on something as basic as farm and food programs.

“For the farm bill to be successful there must be a conference report that the House is able to pass,” said Ferd Hoefner, policy director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. “That is only even conceivable if the House GOP leaders drive to the middle and not to the extremes. Splitting the bill in two possibly jeopardizes passing anything at all now, and for sure means there will never be a final positive vote on a conference report. “

Nonetheless, there is clearly pressure from conservatives to take the two-bill approach. And outside groups like the political arm of The Heritage Foundation ran ads this month attacking Republicans for supporting a farm bill that incorporated billions for food stamps.

“It’s simple: Farm policy and food stamp policy are different. The House should consider them separately,” said Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.), who was an early and aggressive advocate of this approach. “We have an opportunity to make common-sense reforms by splitting the bill into a real, farm-only farm bill and having an honest conversation about how Washington spends taxpayer money.”

“My preference would be that they would be separate,” Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.) told POLITICO. “But whether that can be done or not, I am not sure. … I want a farm bill.”

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