Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, today issued the below statement following the markup of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee’s 2015 spending bill.
“I am strongly opposed to the effort in the House agriculture appropriations bill to gut conservation and energy programs that passed in the Farm Bill with wide bipartisan majorities. These irresponsible cuts to some of the most important Farm Bill programs cannot be allowed to happen. The bill also unwinds the landmark Child Nutrition law, which was also passed with bipartisan majorities, by undermining efforts to improve the health of school children. If that weren’t enough, the House bill vastly underfunds the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, who is tasked with making sure our financial markets do not suffer another collapse like they did in 2008. When Congress passes laws with strong bipartisan majorities, the appropriations bills must reflect the will of Congress and the letter and the spirit of those laws.”