{"id":99547,"date":"2018-05-24T19:57:49","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T01:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/tipton-optimistic-massive-spending-bill-will-pass-later-this-year\/"},"modified":"2018-05-24T19:57:49","modified_gmt":"2018-05-25T01:57:49","slug":"tipton-optimistic-massive-spending-bill-will-pass-later-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/tipton-optimistic-massive-spending-bill-will-pass-later-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Tipton optimistic massive spending bill will pass later this year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton said he is optimistic a massive spending bill that failed in the House last week will pass later this year.<\/p>\n

The farm bill is a $867 billion bill that serves as a safety net for millions of farmers across the country. It failed by a 198-213 vote May 18 in the House.<\/p>\n

Tipton, R-Cortez, who voted in favor of the bill, said Kelsey Mix, spokesperson for the congressman.<\/p>\n

\"Tipton\"
Tipton<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThis legislation would preserve and build upon important resources that provide American farmers with the certainty they need to support the global food supply, as well as make commonsense reforms to nutrition programs to help Americans escape poverty,\u201d Mix wrote in a statement to The Durango Herald.<\/p>\n

Mix said the congressman is \u201coptimistic\u201d the bill will pass by the Sept. 30 deadline. Every five years, Congress passes a farm bill that matches farm subsidies with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or better known as food stamps.<\/p>\n

This year, the bill limits food stamp eligibility with more work requirements and a lower income ceiling.<\/p>\n

La Plata County Commissioner Julie Westendorff said the food stamp portion of the bill has a big impact for local residents.<\/p>\n

\"Westendorff\"
Westendorff<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe have a lot of folks because the cost of living is so high in La Plata County that there\u2019s quite a bit of food insecurity,\u201d Westendorff said. \u201cWe see that looking at our (Durango) Food Bank and the food assistance that comes through SNAP for families and children is something \u2026 that I know our department of human services views as an important part of the farm bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, the bill would have made receiving subsidies easier for farmers. The federal government spends around $17 billion annually on farm subsidies, including on crop insurance. According to Westendorff, not many crops in La Plata County would be eligible for the insurance, as there aren\u2019t many commodity-based crops.<\/p>\n

Westendorff said conservation easement measures in past farm bills are also relevant to people of La Plata County.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have numerous large property owners that have put land in conservation easement, which certainly helps preserve the rural pasture and our open space,\u201d Westendorff said. \u201cRural development grants are important to La Plata County.\u201d<\/p>\n

The farm bill is expected to come up for a vote again in the third week of June.<\/p>\n

Maria Carrasco is an intern for The Durango Herald and a student at American University in Washington, D.C.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

will come up for a vote again in the third week of June<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":99548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[981,13,23],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-99547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-colorado-3rd-congressional-district","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-u-s-rep-scott-tipton"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99547"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=99547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}