Steph's blog

At the crux of the current debate is how many amendments to allow, and which ones. Democrats want to allow amendments that have to do directly with the Farm Bill, and Republicans would like to be able to add any amendments they want to the bill. This is a frequent tactic, especially with huge, must pass legislation.

Six months ago, there were a lot of us who thought the Senate was the cat's meow. After all, the House was preparing to draft their version of the Farm Bill, and things were not looking good for those of us who like farmers or real food.

So we pinned our hopes on the Senate to do it right. Oh, how times have changed.

The Senate was supposed to be the place where a more progressive Farm Bill could happen, where family farmers would be given a fighting chance. And that might (emphasize might) still be true in some small ways.

But only if they can ever get to the damn bill.

At least by Day 2 on the House floor, they had gotten to actual amendments.

Now, I'm not an expert in Senate rules, nor do I ever want to be. But I'm at a loss to understand why it is perfectly fine for a Senator to take the floor during a Farm Bill debate and start talking about illegal logging in China or the No Child Left Behind reauthorization. And what's this about constantly returning to "morning business"?