Farm Bill Conference Begins Today

Posted on October 30, 2013 at 11:44 AM by Iowa Corn

The official farm bill conference begins today at 1:30 p.m. CST and Iowa Corn welcomes the movement to pass a comprehensive five-year farm bill. Informal staff and member meetings have already been occurring, however today’s conference committee meeting will give all 41 members a chance to outline their priorities. Watch live at http://agriculture.house.gov/markup/hr-2642-conference-meeting

Last week, Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) staff met with the entire Iowa delegation to reaffirm Iowa Corn priorities and positions in the bill, and ask for their support to include and protect these provisions.

ICGA continues to advocate for a new five year bill that protects crop insurance, ensures adequate funding for the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Program and provides non-market distorting risk management tools for farmers.

The farm bill expired on September 30, 2013 and it’s critically important that a new bill be passed before the end of the year, or farmers and rural communities will see real impacts.

Here is a listing of the House and Senate Conferees. It’s important to note that Iowa has two conferees: Representative Steve King, and Senator Tom Harkin.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS
House Committee on Agriculture conferees:

- Rep. Frank D. Lucas (R-OK), Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee
- Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
- Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
- Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL)
- Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
- Rep. Glenn 'GT' Thompson (R-PA)
- Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA)
- Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR)
- Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL)
- Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD)
- Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA)
- Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL)

House Leadership conferee:

- Rep. Steve Southerland (R-FL)

House Foreign Affairs Committee conferees:

- Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman
- Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA)

House Ways & Means Committee conferees:

- Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), Chairman
- Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX)

HOUSE DEMOCRATS
House Committee on Agriculture conferees:

- Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN), Ranking Member of House Agriculture Committee
- Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
- Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA)
- Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN)
- Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
- Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA)
- Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA)
- Rep. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-CA)
- Rep. Filemon Vela (D-TX)

House Leadership conferee:

- Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH)

House Foreign Affairs Committee conferee:

- Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Ranking Member

House Ways & Means Committee conferee:

- Rep. Sandy Levin (D-MI), Ranking Member

SENATE DEMOCRATS

- Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee
- Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
- Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT)
- Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO)

SENATE REPUBLICANS

- Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee
- Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
- Sen. John Boozman (R-AR)
- Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND)

Amanda De Jong currently serves as the Senior Policy Advisor for the Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA), a position she assumed in 2011. In addition to her work promoting Iowa corn policy positions with state, federal, and regulatory governmental bodies, she also advises the ICGA board and committees on political matters and participates in the ICGA policy development process. Prior to joining Iowa Corn, she spent four years as Agriculture and Trade Counsel to Senator Chuck Grassley in Washington, DC handling agriculture policy, food safety, nutrition, and trade. She has also worked for the Under Secretary of Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC. Amanda is an Iowa native, raised on a farm in NE Iowa. She has a B.S. in Agricultural Business from Iowa State University and a J.D. from the University of Iowa Law School. Amanda lives with her husband Ryan in Des Moines.

Tagged As: Farm Bill, ICGA, Amanda De Jong