Speaker Boehner: Congress will tackle stalled farm bill after the election is over

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Thursday that the House will tackle the stalled five-year farm bill when it returns to work in November.

“We will deal with the farm bill after the election,” he told reporters.

{mosads}Boehner explained that there still are not enough votes at this time to pass the House Agriculture Committee’s bill. That bill would cut $35 billion from the deficit over 10 years, but it’s more than $900 billion price tag has conservatives up in arms. Liberal object to the bill’s $16 billion in food stamp cuts.

“The current situation that we face is that we’ve got people who believe there’s not enough reform in the farm bill that came out of committee, and others who believe there’s too much reform in the bill that came out of committee … leaving less than 218 votes to pass either an extension or to consider the entire farm bill. But when we get back, we will deal with the issue of the farm bill,” Boehner said.

Fifty-six members of the House, including 11 Republicans, have signed a new discharge petition to try to force GOP leaders to hold a floor vote on the farm bill. On Wednesday, Boehner confidant Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) signed the petition, as did Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.). Latham is in a close race against Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa) in a consolidated district.