<p>The Senate has passed a farm bill that sets federal food and farming policy for the next decade with a vote of 66 to 27. Next week, the House version, which makes more substantial cuts, is set for consideration next week, according to the Washington Post. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>The 1,150-page bill would cost $955 billion over the next 10 years and includes cuts in direct subsidies to farmers and a nearly $4 billion cut in the federal food stamp program. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>“I don’t think you can have an economy unless you make things and grow things. This bill is about growing things. That’s what we need to do in this country,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>A similar version of the bill was passed in the Senate last year, but the House didn’t hold a vote on its version, causing the chambers to pass a one-year extension of existing policy.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Stabenow notes that she expects Congress to pass a Farm Bill this year. “There’s a whole lot of people across our country who were very upset that the leadership in the House of Representatives walked away from rural America” and failed to pass a bill last year.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Next week, the House is expected to take up its version of the legislation next week, which proposes a $20 billion cut in food stamps over the next decade.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/06/10/farm-bill-set-for-passage-in-the-senate/" target="_new">Farm Bill Report </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
