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House Repubs Yank Farm Bill Extension

By Ben Terris // July 31, 2012 | 5:43 p.m.

House Republican leaders yanked a one-year extension of the 2008 farm bill from consideration Tuesday night, opting instead to move only a drought-aid package to the House floor before the August recess.

It happened because Republican leaders could not get enough members on board to pass even a short-term extension of the current farm bill, let alone a five-year reauthorization that Congress has been trying to craft.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., remains undaunted, saying that differences were never going to be resolved this week and that a conference committee could still be convened.

The Senate is unlikely to accept a drought-aid only package--at least anytime soon.

It's possible that House passage of the aid package, probably Thursday, could lay the groundwork for a conference committee.

Earlier this year the farm bill that passed the Senate by a wide margin seemed to herald a new bipartisanship in the chamber and offered hope that a five-year farm bill could pass. That hope seems dashed.