WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker John Boehner says the farm bill should be extended through January while negotiators work out differences on cuts to food stamps and how to restructure farm subsidies. Negotiators are working against a New Year’s deadline for expiration of some dairy subsidies. If those subsidies expire, new laws will kick in that could result in higher prices for a gallon of milk.
Boehner said Thursday he hasn’t “seen any real progress” on the farm bill. That’s in contrast to comments from House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma, who said Wednesday that negotiators have made “great progress.”
Cuts to the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program are a major sticking point in talks.