Representative Hanna Optimistic for Farm Bill Passage

U.S. Representative Richard Hanna is optimistic that Congress will soon pass the Farm Bill which for the first time was separated into two parts.

"For the first time in forty something years they've separated the SNAP program from the Farm Bill, which is about 80 percent of the actual Farm Bill," Hanna said. "A lot of acrimony and anger on the floor the idea of separating it. We were unable to pass the Farm Bill with it two weeks earlier so they brought it back and separated the SNAP program from it and my hope is that it goes to the Senate who does have the supplemental food program in their bill and it will be restored."

Hanna says he supports the Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP) and sides with republicans in Congress to make changes to the program and create eligibility requirements. Hanna concluded by saying that when the bill was split, virtually no democrats voted for it

"There are tons of opportunities to save money in the SNAP program, it's grown astronomically over the last 10 years and I think it's appropriate to add eligibility requirements and improve what's actually needed," he said. "Our side sought to acknowledge that and cut back quite a bit the Senate cut back, but not as much I would have liked to see the original bill pass and go to conference and probably come up with some reasonable compromise."

Congressman Hanna hopes the bill will gos to the Senate and conference and comes out with something that acknowledges the importance of both programs.