The Farm Bill is one of the biggest bills in Washington for a reason: it affects not just farmers, but all of us -- how we get food & other farm products and what it will cost.

The bill covers everything from crop subsidies to conservation program to our nation’s food stamp program. It usually funds these programs for about five years or so and the most recent farm bill expires on September 30.

Last week, the House Ag Committee passed their version of the Farm Bill on an unusually party-line vote. Democrats say they’ve been shut out of the process.

One member of that committee is Congressman Rodney Davis. He’s a Republican representing our state’s 13th Congressional district, which covers all or part of 14 counties in central and southwestern Illinois, including Champaign, Bloomington, and Springfield. We caught up with Congressman Davis and asked him more about the Farm Bill.

And, as this bill makes its way through Congress, the issue of SNAP benefits will likely be front and center. Even though this is known as the Farm Bill, in reality 80 percent of the funding relates to SNAP, again otherwise known as food stamps. To help parse this aspect of the Farm Bill, we were joined in studio by Craig Gundersen. Craig is a professor of agricultural strategy with the University of Illinois’ Department of Agriculture and Consumer Economics.

Of course, we also wanted to hear from farmers. Rich Guebert, president of the Illinois Farm Bureau joined us.

We also spoke with Zach Duchenaeaux. He’s the Secretary of the Intertribal Agriculture Council and a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and he joined us on the line from Nashville, Tennessee.

Lastly, Harvest Public Media has been doing lots of reporting on this. They’re a public media collaboration focusing on food, agriculture, and other rural issues. Grant Gerlock reports for them and is based out of NET News in Lincoln, Nebraska where he joined us from.

Last week over 50 Evangelical leaders from around the country gathered here in Illinois at Wheaton College to address a major question: What’s the future of their movement in the age of Trump?

On the outset this might be a strange question if you consider that more than 80 percent of white evangelicals voted for and still largely support the President. But, many Evangelical and conservative Christian leaders are concerned about the President’s polarizing politics and what it means for their mission.

Emily McFarlan Miller, a national reporter with the Religion News Service, spoke to people involved with the closed-door event, and she spoke with us on the phone from Chicago.