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With all the craziness over the government shutdown and potential U.S. default on our debt, one issue that has received markedly less attention than it would normally is the expiration of the Farm Bill last month.

Attempts to reauthorize the bill broke down over House Republicans’ insistence on stripping the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) from their version of the bill, creating months of chaos.

But last weekend, House conferees were finally named, and now that the government is back up and running, the process of creating a final bill is set to begin.

The House and Senate versions of the Bill are worlds apart on a variety of issues-not just SNAP-but the most significant area of non-alignment for people who care about the principle of federalism is a provision inserted into the bill by Iowa Rep. Steve King (Sec. 11312 of H.R. 2642) that would overturn dozens of state laws.

The “King Amendment” dictates that “the government of a State or locality therein shall not impose a standard or condition on the production or manufacture of any agricultural product sold or offered for sale in interstate commerce if (1) such production or manufacture occurs in another State; and (2) the standard or condition is in addition to the standards and conditions applicable to such production or manufacture pursuant to (A) Federal law; and (B) the laws of the State and locality in which such production or manufacture occurs.”