Since the House passed its farm-program-only version of the farm bill:
Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) has stated that the House farm bill will go nowhere in the Senate. The White House has issued a veto threat saying that it does not go far enough in crop insurance reforms and doesn't invest enough in renewable energy. House leadership has no idea at this point how to forge a consensus on nutrition issues.
Perhaps what is most remarkable about all of the above is that the same things could have been said before the House decided to split the farm bill into separate farm and nutrition parts. It is difficult to argue that this split has set back the process and it may yet ultimately speed things along. Th...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday. In July, the CPI rose 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 3.4 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy, or the “core” infla...
