WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the farm bill (all times local):
4:35 p.m.
The Senate has passed the farm bill, a multibillion-dollar legislative package to fund agriculture and food aid programs.
The legislation comes with an estimated price tag of $867 billion over a decade. It passed the Senate 87-13.
The vote comes less than one day after the House and Senate reached an agreement on the bill, which for months had been caught up in tense negotiations over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.
The bill reauthorizes crop insurance and conservation programs, and legalizes the industrial production of hemp.
The House is expected to pass the legislation soon and send it to President Donald Trump for his signature.
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1 p.m.
Lawmakers have reached an agreement on the farm bill, a mammoth package that will fund key farm safety net programs for the next five years without making significant changes to the food stamp program that serves nearly 40 million low-income Americans.
The agreement, signed on Monday by House and Senate members of the conference committee, is the result of months of negotiations to reconcile conflicting versions of the bill.
"We started this journey nearly two years ago," said Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., in a statement. "As promised, this farm bill provides much needed certainty and predictability for all producers — of all crops —across all regions across the country."
The measure bears a price tag of $867 billion over 10 years.
