In a dramatic and historic defeat for House Republican leadership and Agriculture Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R, OK), the House this week voted 195-234 to reject the 2013 five-year Farm Bill.  Sixty-two Republicans joined over 170 Democrats in defeating the bill, while 24 Democrats crossed the aisle and joined 171 GOPers voting for the omnibus farm package. 

Within minutes of the lopsided defeat - an outcome no ag lobbyist can remember - House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R, VA) and House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D, MD) were on the House floor engaged in an exchange that can only be described as the "blame game." Hoyer said "you turned a bipartisan bill into a partisan bill," adding the Farm Bill defeat reflects poor leadership by House Speaker John Boehner (R, OH) and Cantor, both of whom had spoken favorably of the bill prior to the vote.  Cantor, and later a Boehner spokesperson, slammed Hoyer for not delivering the Democrat votes promised; Hoyer responded, "It failed because 62 of your members voted against it."  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D, CA) said the GOP "sowed the seeds of its own destruction." These finger pointing exercises were followed by a series of one-minute floor statements by members from both sides of the aisle, again each blaming the opposing party for the Farm Bill's defeat.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, representing a White House which threatened to veto the Farm Bill over proposed food stamp cuts, joined in, saying: "The failure by the House leadership, for the second year in a row, to reach consensus on a Food, Farm and Jobs Bill is a tremendous disappointment for all Americans. Twice now, the U.S. Senate has done its job and passed balanced, comprehensive legislation with overwhelming bipartisan support. Unfortunately, the House version of this bill would have unfairly denied food assistance for millions of struggling families and their children, while failing to achieve needed reforms or critical investments to continue economic growth in rural America. As a result, the House was unable to achieve bipartisan consensus."

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As the Senate continues to work through floor debate on its comprehensive immigration reform bill, all eyes are focused on whether a new plan to increase border security can lure back Republican supporters who began defecting earlier in the week because they felt the bill was too soft on securing the borders.

In related action, the House Judiciary Committee this week approved its version of ag guest worker provisions, calling it "one step closer to providing farmers with a workable and reliable guest worker program."  The United Farm Workers, which negotiated with ag employers the Senate guest worker language, said the House language creates "a 'servants-only' guest worker program." The House language says only people in the country illegally can apply for legal status as a guest worker for two years or until a new guest worker visa program goes into effect.  Only illegal immigrants employed in agriculture are eligible for the new status as temporary guest workers, and they would have to leave the country for three months after they apply before they could reenter on a visa or as a guest worker. 

In the Senate, an amendment offered by Sen. John Cornyn (R, TX), which drew sharp criticism from Democrats, was tabled earlier this week as Senators turned their attention to a new plan, one championed by Sens. Bob Corker (R, TN) and John Hoeven (R, ND), which would predicate the path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented workers based on how well the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) increases border security.  

The new plan would have to be implemented before the path to citizenship portions of the law go into effect.  The Corker-Hoeven amendment would double the number of border agents and spend $3.2 billion on cameras, helicopters and/or drones to "seal" the southern U.S. border, while holding DHS accountable for a plan to increase border security by putting actions and benchmarks into the law.  It also strengthens electronic employment verification for companies - which would face stiff new penalties for hiring illegal immigrants - and the use of biometric surveillance at air, land and seaports.

The amendment has drawn support from more than 15 GOP Senators, including the four who are members of the Gang of Eight who drafted the original bill.  Key Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (R, Fl) called the Corker-Hoeven amendment "our chance to fix the bill."  

In a related immigration development, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) this week estimated the Senate bill would reduce the federal deficit by $197 billion over 10 years, further bolstering its chances with the GOP side of the aisle.

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