The 2018 Farm Bill crossed the second of three hurdles on Wednesday when the House approved the measure in a landslide vote of 369-47 two days after the final conference report was made public.
The bill will head to the Oval Office next. President Trump has previously indicated he will sign the bill. However, timing is unclear.
“It is fitting that the House today considers the farm bill because 28 years ago, another proud Texan — President George H.W. Bush — signed the 1990 Farm Bill into law,” said House Chairman Mike Conaway prior to the vote. “And, for the first time since 1990, Congress is poised to pass a new farm bill in the same year that the legislation was first introduced.”
He continued to say that a farm bill has not been needed by farmers as desperately as it’s needed today since the early 2000’s .
“Our farmers and ranchers are going through a very difficult recession right now. Net farm income is down 50 percent from where it stood just 5 years ago — the largest drop since the Great Depression,” he said.