(WIBC.com file photo: Eric Berman)

Democratic Senate nominee Joe Donnelly is blasting the Republican House for adjourning last week without passing a farm bill.

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Congress returns for a lame-duck session after the election. Even though the current farm bill expires Sunday, federal assistance continues through the end of the year.

Donnelly says the bill's crop insurance and drought assistance provisions are too critical to wait. He calls passing the bill "one of the most basic functions of our job."

The Democratic Senate passed its version of a farm bill in June on a bipartisan vote. A bill also passed the House Agriculture Committee, but Speaker John Boehner has said he doesn't have the votes in the full House.

The adjournment does mean eight of Indiana's nine House members can focus on campaigning back home -- six are up for reelection, Donnelly's running for Senate, and Republican Mike Pence is running for governor.