Two Conference Committees Continue their Work

The House-Senate Conference on the Farm Bill continues to meet but is less certain of meeting the originally proposed Thanksgiving week deadline.  This deadline was set to allow adequate time for the House to consider the final conference report prior to the scheduled end of year recess which begins on December 13th.  Food stamps and price supports continue to be sticking points for the conferees.

Separately, the House-Senate Conference on the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) has gotten underway with most of the early focus on Corps projects.  There is speculation that House conferees may be willing to entertain some WIFIA-like language to allow the topic to be taken up for discussion.  At present, on the Senate measure includes an infrastructure financing pilot proposal.