: Farm bill writers face a much more difficult path to a new bill this year if forced to make 27-billion in cuts to direct payments versus 16-billion in last year’s Senate-passed farm bill. Senate farm bill writers last year didn’t use all their direct payment savings for deficit reduction. They used some of it - plus conservation and nutrition savings - to preserve the farm safety net. But now - Senate Democrats have changed the balance - offering up direct payments for 27-and-a-half-billion in deficit cuts. American Farm Bureau Deputy Director Dale Moore says that makes writing a farm bill more difficult…