The months of September and October are a crucial time period for the farm bill and the United States.

By the end of September, the current farm bill is set to expire. Within the House of Representatives, a new form of the bill has been passed and has been sent to the Senate to be voted on.

Next week, the House is expected to vote on a new food stamps bill.

The Senate cut $4 billion in nutrition programs during 10 years; however, the House wants to cut $40 billion, which Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said is unacceptable.

“However, it looks like the House may just have to vote on that and get it out of their system,” Harkin said. “And then appoint Tom Reed and we can get together in Congress. Hopefully we can work this out and keep the nutrition cuts at the level we bipartisanly agreed upon here in the Senate, which is around $4 billion over 10 years.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the biggest difference the Senate and the House will need to work out will be the level of expenditure for food stamps.

“[In] the case of the House-Senate savings and the case of the House agriculture committee savings, it’d be $20 billion, and [in] the case of a bill that might come up on the floor of the Senate of $40 billion in savings, so you’ve got to find some sort of compromise between that 4 [billion] and 20 or that 4 and 40,” Grassley said. “I think it can be done.”

Grassley says it is critical for the House and Senate to reach a compromise on the farm bill.

“There is a great deal of pressure to get a compromise because Leader [Harry] Reid has said we’re not going to extend the existing farm bill again, and the practical thing is you can’t go back to the 1949 farm bill,” Grassley said.

Harkin said he is very disappointed about the House’s unwillingness to move toward a compromise.

“We thought maybe there would be a compromise but the House is moving away from the compromise,” Harkin said. “It is unconscionable that the House is going to vote to cut $40 billion out of these food programs, and it will never pass over here.”

In respect to the food stamp bill, Steffen Schmidt, university professor of political science, said the House and the Senate will clash on a decision.

“Even though the farm bill has passed in the Republican-run House, the Democrats will not support a food stamp bill that is so reduced,” Schmidt said of the Senate.

If the House were to hypothetically not pass the food stamp bill next week, Grassley said: “Since we have both food stamps and farm bill in our bill and the House would go in the conference with just the farm bill, we could still come out of conference with food stamps and the farm bill together.”

Both Grassley and Harkin do not believe a solution will be reached before the end of September.

“I think if it’s done soon after Oct. 1 it’s no problem,” Grassley said.

Harkin said he had hoped that when the Senate reconvened, a decision would have been made before the end of September.

“But with the Syria things that’s come up, it’s put everything on hold,” Harking said. “I don’t think we’ll do any kind of extension of the farm bill; let the present one expire, not much will happen right away.”