In a rare showing of true bipartisanship, the U.S. Senate on Monday passed a new farm bill that establishes the latest crop insurance subsidy program and funds the food assistance program for low-income families.
Despite support by members of both parties, 27 senators voted against it due to either cuts in food assistance or farming subsidies.
The Senate passed similar legislation last year, but the amount of spending it included meant it was rejected by the House. More cuts were made in the latest version as a way of appealing to conservatives this time around.
Host Carmen Russell-Sluchansky spoke with Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, and Bruce Babcock, an economics professor at Iowa State University and director of the Biobased Industry Center, to discuss the bill.
