Sen. Grassley hopeful for bipartisan farm bill - KTIV News 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and Sports

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has been pressing the Republican-led House to pass a new farm bill. Vilsack says failure to act on the measure could leave livestock producers exposed to disasters and other farmers uncertain about the future. Last month, the Senate approved a five-year, half-trillion dollar farm bill by a vote of 64-to-35.

Tuesday morning on News Four Today Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley said he's also hopeful the House will follow suit.

"It's a good bill. It's going to maintain the crop insurance, but it's going to do away with the $15 billion that's spent on direct payments and so crop insurance is the main safety net program maintained in the bill," said Grassley.

The farm bill passed by the Senate ends direct payments to farmers regardless of whether they plant crops and sets up new crop support programs. It also reduces the federal deficit by $23 billion over the next 10 years.