The U.S. Senate passed the farm bill Tuesday by a vote of 68-32, sending it to the president鈥檚 desk and ending years of political wrangling.
The legislation is expected to become law, as President Obama he would sign the measure. The House passed it Jan. 29.
Colorado's senators, Democrats Michael Bennet and Mark Udall, both voted in favor of the farm bill. Bennet sits on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, where final details of the compromise bill were hammered out.
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The new farm bill makes cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly called food stamps. It also , making crop insurance the bedrock of the federal farm safety net.
Direct payments to farmers 鈥� fixed government payments that don鈥檛 take crop performance or planting into account 鈥� were controversial. They cost about $4.5 billion annually, and were sometimes referred to derisively as 鈥�.鈥� The new farm bill would channel most of that money toward expanding the government-subsidized crop insurance program.
Cuts to the SNAP budget proved the most divisive element of drafting a new farm bill. House Republicans had wanted $40 billion in cuts over ten years. Senate Democrats advocated for $4 billion. The compromise legislation drawn up by the conference committee charged with negotiating the differences between House and Senate bills includes cuts to the program鈥檚 budget of about $8 billion over ten years.
The farm bill also makes significant changes to conservation policy, dairy policy and includes expanded safety net programs for livestock industries.
Harvest Public Media's Luke Runyon contributed to this report.
