Senate agriculture committee approves farm bill

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas says the House must resolve the question of food stamps before conferencing with the Senate on a final farm bill. The House split food stamps from farm subsidies in its version of the bill, with the farm subsidies portion passing last Thursday. Senate Democrats are calling for an immediate conference to reconcile its version, containing $4 billion in food stamp cuts, with the bill the House passed last week. The original House farm bill contained $20.5 billion in food stamp cuts.