WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Renee Ellmers released the following statement this morning from her office in Washington:

"This year's farm bill held the promise of a better future for our farmers and the millions of Americans who rely on them to feed our nation. I was extremely disappointed to see that Nancy Pelosi and her Democratic colleagues decided to place partisan politics ahead of certainty and the growth of our economy. Because of this failure, important reforms to the SNAP program will not be made - such as 20 billion dollars in cuts to wasteful spending, safeguards on unchecked and off budget growth, and allowing the states to impose standards such as drug testing to applicants. For the American family, the failure of this bill means more uncertainty because government spending will remain unaccountable."

"Furthermore, failure to pass the Farm Bill is another setback to poultry producers in the second district who were counting on making progress toward the availability of  business interruption insurance as the related study included in the bill will no longer take place. I am disappointed, as is everyone else that worked so hard to get the study included.  Despite the failure of the bill, I commend Chairman Lucas and the House Agriculture Committee for the hard work they put into this legislation and will continue to work toward an expedited bill that will provide certainty and safeguards to American farmers."

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