Congressman Mike Rogers, R-Saks, announced that he has been selected to serve as a conferee for the 2018 Farm Bill.
“In the great State of Alabama, the agriculture industry drives our economy bringing in over $1 billion annually,” Representative Rogers said. “As the only member of the Agriculture Committee from our state, I am proud to represent the interests of Alabama’s agriculture industry on the Farm Bill Conference Committee this year. I look forward to negotiating legislation that will help set guidelines and bring certainty to our farmers.”
The House Agriculture Committee is chaired by Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas.
“Today, we move one step closer to delivering a strong, new farm bill to the president’s desk on time as he has called on Congress to do,” Chairman Conaway said. “America’s farmers and ranchers and rural America are struggling right now and they deserve the certainty of a strong farm bill to see them through to better times. The House has pulled together a solid team of conferees – including Rep. Rogers. I’m looking forward to working with Mike, who has been a strong voice for agriculture through this process, and the rest of our House and Senate colleagues to reach a final product that helps millions of low-income Americans climb the economic ladder, while standing by our nation’s hard-working farm and ranch families.”
The Farm Bill sets the policies for Agriculture programs and nutrition assistance programs for the next five years and beyond. Both the House and the Senate have passed their own versions of the Farm Bill. The House version narrowly passed with only Republican support. The Senate version is a bipartisan bill that has wide support. The House Republicans’ bill requires that all able-bodied adults who receive supplement nutritional assistance programs (SNAP – previously known as Food Stamps) most either work twenty hours a week or must be in a federally approved job training program. The bipartisan Senate bill does not have this requirement. That is expected to be one point of contention for the conference committee as the conferees try to draft a compromise bill that can pass the conference committee and then go back to the Congress.
Rogers serves as Chairman of the Strategic Forces subcommittee on the Armed Services Committee and is a senior member of the Homeland Security and Agriculture committees. Rogers represents Alabama’s Third Congressional District.
Rogers is seeking his ninth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to his congressional service, Rogers served in the Alabama legislature and on the Calhoun County Commission. Rogers faces Mallory Hagan (D) in the November 6, general election.
