House GOP Leaders Aim To Pass Pared-Down Farm Subsidy Bill And Deal With Food Stamp Funding Separately; Prospects For Passage Seem Dim

Republican leaders in the House of Representative, struggling to pass a farm subsidy bill, arranged for a vote Thursday on a trimmed-down version of the measure that does not include food stamp provisions, which they aim to deal with in a separate bill.

But approval of the trimmed-down farm bill is hardly assured, analysts said.

An earlier version of the farm bill, which governs how much financial aid farmers receive, failed last month 195-234, after progressive representatives complained about the $20.5 billion in cuts to food stamps, and conservative representatives complained that the cuts were not enough.

Democrats are signaling that they won’t support the trimmed-down version and the White House threatened a veto.