Regarding the Anti-Hunting/Anti-Rural America Amendment That was Added to the House Version of the Farm Bill

To understand the seriousness of the amendment added to the Farm Bill that you’ve been hearing about, here’s some additional info that might be helpful and give you a little more direction.

First, what is the Farm Bill (FB)? The Farm Bill is a giant multi-year appropriations bill for agriculture and related issues such as nutrition and rural issues. It is traditionally reauthorized every 5 years but has been off schedule since COVID. We strongly support and expect this extremely important funding bill to pass this year. 

Both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate develop versions of the Farm Bill, which are brought together at the end for the final bill. If there are substantive differences between the final House and Senate versions, they are resolved in a “conference committee” that is made up of members of both parties.

Currently, the House Committee on Agriculture is further along in preparing their bill for a floor vote than the Senate. During the House Agriculture Committee’s final mark-up of the FB, several last minute amendments were added, including the one everyone is rightly concerned about, HR 5017, which you can read here. Like similar animal rights proposals, it provides language that goes far beyond its stated goals, rendering common practices questionable and contestable under the law.

The House version could be brought to the floor soon, maybe within the month. The Senate Ag Committee will probably start finalizing their version of the FB within the next few weeks.
Although it’s a difficult task, it is possible that this amendment could be removed during the House debate when it’s presented there for a vote.

In our view, working to prevent this agenda-driven legislation from being added to the Senate version of the FB is likely to provide a more successful outcome. For this amendment to exist in the final law, it needs to be in both the House and the Senate versions of the FB that are passed. It is easier to prevent something from being added than it is to remove it later 

Our recommendation is to write your representatives and senators now (find your congress members here) and let them know that you oppose the Anti-Hunting, Anti-Rural American amendment to the Farm Bill H.R. 5017. Put special effort into contacting your senators now and also the members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. 

Our group, NAIA, will be putting out a detailed alert within the next few days.

For more information contact Patti Strand, naia@naiaonline.org.

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