NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas First District Congressman Tracey Mann admits the process to get to a new five-year Farm Bill has been slower than the melting of the snow in his district, but at least there are some signs of an eventual thaw, even if only in the forecast.
"Pretty good text is put together on the House side," Mann said. "It sounds like that it might come to the committee here in the next few weeks. On the Senate side, they are behind the House side, so there's quite a bit more work to do, but I'm cautiously optimistic that it's going to start moving here and we're going to get something done."
The current farm bill has been extended until September 30, 2024.
"First in is good," Also, on a conference committee, they have a House version and a Senate version. They come together in a conference committee. The conference committee rotates every farm bill on if it's the House's turn to chair it or the Senate's turn to chair it. It's the House's turn to chair the Farm Bill conference committee this year, which is a really, really big deal."
That means that Republican House Ag Committee chair Congressman Glenn "GT" Thompson from Pennsylvania will be in charge. Thompson visited Kansas in 2022.
"We've got to do the work," Mann said. "It's got to move in the House and Senate to get to that point and that's what we're working on right now."
The question is how fast can they get that work done before everyone in the House and 1/3 of the Senate all has to run for office again in the fall of 2024.
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