The federal government is still closed, but the farm bill conference has finally started. As we reported on 11 October, the House cleared the way to appoint conferees in a procedural vote and made the appointments Saturday. The Senate appointed conferees on 1 August and re-appointed them more recently. However, even the naming of conferees signals the looming difficulties. The House named representatives from the Agriculture, Ways and Means and Foreign Affairs Committees as is typical, but also appointed Representative Steve Sutherland (R-Florida) as the representative of the House Leadership. He was the author of the work requirement amendment to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that was largely credited with tanking...

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