WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Oct. 1 asked for and received unanimous consent to request a conference with the House of Representatives on the 2013 farm bill. The current farm act has expired.

Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, said, “I’m pleased that the Senate has once again agreed to go to conference with the House on the farm bill and has re-appointed conferees. The government shutdown and the expiration of the farm bill has created a double whammy of uncertainty for the economy and for the 16 million Americans who work in this country because of agriculture. The Senate has twice passed a comprehensive, bipartisan farm bill that will create jobs, reform agriculture policy and reduce the deficit by tens of billions of dollars. It’s time to finally get this done.”

The Senate conferees for the majority party include Senators Stabenow, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Max Baucus of Montana, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Michael Bennet of Colorado. The Senate Republican leadership will select five members to serve on the conference committee.