<p> House Agriculture Committee has voted to approve a $940 billion farm bill, a day after the Senate passed its version. The final vote was 36 to 10, in the wake of last year’s failure to pass the bill.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Committee Chairman, Representative Frank D. Lucas, Republican of Oklahoma said, “I’m pleased the committee was able to work together, find some common ground, and advance a five-year farm bill today,” Mr. Lucas said.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The House bill cuts spending in farm and nutrition programs by nearly $40 billion over the next 10 years. $20.5 million, would come from cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or food stamps. The Senate voted to cut spending by $23 billion, with $4.1 billion of the cuts coming from the food stamp program, according to the New York Times. <img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/peas.jpg" alt="IMAGES 5-16-2013" /><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Both versions would eliminate direct payments to farmers, which are made annually whether they grow crops or not. Currently, farmers who grow corn, wheat, soybeans, cotton and other crops receive about $5 billion in direct payments.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The House bill passed with strong bipartisan support but exposed a division among committee members over the size of cuts to the food stamp program.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Expressing disapproval, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan Washington research group, said the cuts in the food stamp program would eliminate two million people from the program, most of them children and older people. The report said the cuts would come in addition to a reduction that food stamp recipients would experience starting Nov. 1., when benefits that were increased under the 2008 economic stimulus expire.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">“Placing the SNAP cuts in this farm bill on top of the benefit cuts that will take effect in November is likely to put substantial numbers of poor families at risk of food insecurity,” the report said.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/house-agriculture-committee-approves-farm-bill/ " target="_new">Farm Bill Report </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
