Letter to the Hon. Pat Roberts, Chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, and the Hon. Debbie Stabenow, Ranking Member - Keep Anti-Environment Policy Riders Out of Senate Farm Bill Conference Report

Letter

Dear Farm Bill Conferee:

We are Senators who voted in favor of the Senate Farm Bill, which passed our chamber in a bipartisan vote of 86-11. As you begin your conference committee discussions to reconcile the Senate Farm Bill with the House-passed Farm Bill, we write to oppose environmental riders.

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 Senate Farm Bill is the product of thoughtful, bipartisan negotiations, which resulted in a historic vote in favor of the bill's passage. We hope the President can sign a Farm Bill conference report into law before the current legislation expires on October 1. Unfortunately, the House Farm Bill contains a number of damaging anti-environment provisions that now make meeting the upcoming reauthorization deadline exceedingly difficult. These harmful riders, spread throughout the Forestry, Horticulture, and Miscellaneous titles of the House bill, subjected the legislation to unnecessary opposition on the House floor and now complicates the bipartisan cooperation needed to pass a final conference report.

Again, we write to express our strong opposition to gutting bedrock U.S. environmental and public health protections with provisions that threaten our air, water, lands, and wildlife. We urge you to bring forward a reconciled 2018 Farm Bill that is free of ideological distractions.

Sincerely,