The House is scheduled to vote Friday on a controversial farm bill that, if passed, would help set agriculture policy for the next five years.
But with a granular debate over the government’s role in the sugar industry, advancing the bill has been no piece of cake.
Republican leaders mounted a full court press Thursday to quash a sugar policy amendment that could have derailed the farm bill. Despite nail-biting drama that dominated the House for much of the day, the amendment was ultimately crushed by a wide margin.
Also complicating matters is a push by conservatives to get a vote on an unrelated issue: immigration. Members of the House Freedom Caucus have been threatening to withhold support for the farm bill unless they get their desired outcome on an immigration bill.
Though they’ve been in negotiations with Republican leadership for two days over the issue, it was still unclear how their members would vote on the farm bill Friday.
The Republican-drafted bill has also attracted criticism from Democrats with its overhaul for food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
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