President Donald Trump signed a $867 billion farm bill that is set to secure increased funding for farmers affected by the trade war with China and tighten rules for food stamp recipients, Fox News informed.
Trump said that this bill is a “bipartisan success” and praised the role of Democratic lawmakers in the making of the bill.
“We are ensuring that American agriculture will always feed our families, nourish our communities, power our commerce and inspire our nation,” Trump stated.
Several minutes before signing the bill, Trump sent a tweet with a video of him performing the “Green Acres” theme song at the Emmys years ago.
Trump says that this current bill will provide “crop insurance” and emergency funding in “times of disaster,” but it also calls for “immediate welfare reform.”
“Millions of able-bodied working age adults continue to collect food stamps without working or even looking for work. Our goal is to move these Americans from dependence to independence and into a good paying job and rewarding career,” Trump said before signing the bill.
“Therefore I have directed Secretary [Sonny] Perdue to use his authority under the law to close work requirement loopholes in the food stamp program. Under this new rule, able-bodied adults without dependents will have to work or look for work in order to receive their food stamps,” Trump continued.
According to current rules adults from age 18-49 without children are required to work 20 hours a week to maintain their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
The Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 also legalizes the industrial production of hemp, which is part of the cannabis plant.
Functional Remedies CEO Anthony Mazzotti, whose company is the maker of whole-plant, lipid-infused hemp oil products, commended lawmakers for the bill.
“We commend lawmakers for passing the farm bill, which places hemp and hemp-derived products on par with other agricultural products regulated by the USDA. It’s been an injustice that hemp oil, which does not get people ‘high,’ has been wrongly treated in the same way as addictive drugs such as heroin. And now that injustice has been corrected,” he said in a statement.
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