Barletta Votes to Protect Pennsylvania’s Farmers

WASHINGTON – Congressman Lou Barletta (PA-11) today voted for H.R. 2, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, which authorizes a number of agriculture programs and policies that provide certainty for our nation’s farmers, ranchers, and foresters, and help Americans get back into the workforce. 

“The Farm Bill helps Americans move up the economic ladder by reforming and strengthening the country’s largest welfare program and turning it into a tool to help people get back into the workforce,” Barletta said. “It also gives our farmers the stability and support they need to continue to provide food for families across the country.  Agriculture is the number one industry in Pennsylvania and this Farm Bill protects our farmers while also making sure consumers won’t have to pay inflated prices for necessary food items.”

Known as the 2018 Farm Bill, H.R. 2 reforms and improves the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, by strengthening work requirements and improving education and training programs designed to help individuals find good-paying, family-sustaining jobs, while still ensuring the neediest Americans have access to healthy food.  While the economy has changed for the better and other welfare programs have adjusted to meet these changing needs, SNAP has not.  Overall unemployment has fallen to an 18-year low, yet the number of long-term unemployed remains high.  The slow recovery since 2009 brought in a large amount of healthy, working-age recipients to SNAP who had previously never had a need for the program.  It is clear that the needs of the SNAP population have changed, and this bill helps make those necessary adjustments.

Importantly, the bill also amends and extends major programs for food and nutrition, rural development, income support, land conservation, trade promotion, forestry, research, and other programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for five years through 2023. The 2018 Farm Bill streamlines and reduces regulatory burdens placed on farmers and ranchers by eliminating red tape across multiple programs such as the Data Universal Numbering System and the System of Award Management.  Further, the bill stands by our nation’s farmers and ranchers amidst escalating use of illegal trade actions by foreign countries and maintains assistance to those affected by unfair trading practices. 

Further, the bill makes important reforms to vital safety net programs for dairy farmers. Under the bill, the Dairy Risk Management Program (DRMP) will increase the coverage level farmers can take advantage of when insuring their product, make premiums more affordable, and maintain a more accurate margin calculation – the difference between milk prices and feed costs. 

For each session of Congress he has been elected to, Barletta has been presented with the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau’s Friend of the Farm Bureau Award for supporting policies that eliminate excessive regulations on agriculture and help farmers remain competitive.  The Friend of Farm Bureau award is given biannually in each session of Congress to senators and representatives who are nominated by their respective state Farm Bureau and approved by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Board of Directors. 

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