Farm bill up next week

In his teleconference this morning, Sen. Tom Harkin said the farm bill will be on the floor of the Senate Monday next week, Tuesday at the latest. Harkin said he expects a full and vigorous debate on the floor, and said the discussions should take most of the week.

Harkin spent some time talking about the new ACR program, with reporters quizzing Harkin on how many growers would actually sign up for the program and thus generate savings to be spent on other priorities. Harkin left open the idea that Title I funds could be shifted to nutrition and conservation resources via hard caps on subsidies to program crop growers.

You get the idea that there are parts of this farm bill that Harkin himself would like to change on the floor of the Senate. It should be a wide open and intriguing debate next week.