August 23rd, 2018 by WCBC Radio
As bicameral conferees work to reconcile Senate- and House-passed versions of the Farm Bill, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) and Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), Ranking Member of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, led 36 colleagues in a letter urging conferees to oppose controversial anti-environment policy riders. The current Farm Bill expires on October 1.
“The Senate Farm Bill is the product of thoughtful, bipartisan negotiations, which resulted in a historic vote in favor of the bill’s passage,” the senators wrote. “Unfortunately, the House Farm Bill contains a number of damaging anti-environment provisions that now make meeting the upcoming reauthorization deadline exceedingly difficult.
“Avoiding controversial provisions that erode landmark environmental laws could pave the way to an on-time and widely supported reauthorization of the Farm Bill. Including environmental riders in the conference committee’s deliberations will undoubtedly yield a partisan and protracted process that will prolong uncertainty for stakeholders and may ultimately produce a conference report that lacks the requisite votes for passage.” The full letter can be found below and at this link.
In addition to Cardin and Carper, the letter was signed by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-Ore.), Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Christopher S. Murphy (D-Conn.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Cory A. Booker (D-N.J.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Margaret Wood Hassan (D-N.H.), Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.).
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