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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

House votes on budget cuts can be a treasure trove of questions and news stories

Last week's votes on the budget-cutting legislation in the U.S. House provide many opportunities for questions to representatives.  We've already reported the votes against the Environmental Protection Agency's new 15 percent ethanol standard and what thay may mean for the future of biofuels; here are some other votes on agricultural issues, as reported by the weekly Washington newsletter Agri-Pulse:

Subsidies: "Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., offered Amendment 323 to bar funds to pay salaries of USDA personnel providing commodity program benefits 'to a person or legal entity in excess of $250,000.' In the 185-241 vote to reject the amendment, 51 Republicans joined 134 Democrats in favor, while 54 Democrats joined 187 Republicans in opposing this limit on farm program payments. Rep. Ron Kind's amendment to defund the Obama administration's agreement to pay $150 million per year to the Brazil Cotton Institute was rejected in a 183 to 246 vote." The payments are being made because the World Trade Organization has found the cotton program to be in violation of trade agreeements. Kind is a Democrat from Wisconsin.

Environment: The House approved several amendments to limit or cut funding for EPA, including No. 467 by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., to block funding for development and enforcement of “total maximum daily loads or watershed implementation plans for the Chesapeake Bay watershed,” which could have major impacts on agriculture and development in the huge drainiage basin. It passed 230-195, largely along party lines, with only eight Democrats and 15 Republicans voting with the opposite party. Other EPA-related votes included 255-168 for an amendment by Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., to block funds for the agency's proposed dust standard, opposed by farm groups.

Meatpacking: Cuts at the Department of Agriculture would be "among the highest for any department," $5.21 billion or 22.4 percent, Agri-Pulse reports: "The spending cuts imposed on USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service would force some or all of the 6,300 federally inspected meat and poultry processing plants to close at least temporarily," said the top Democrat on the agriculture appropriatons subcommittee, Rep. Sam Farr of California. FSIS inspectors are required to be on hand whenever plants are operating, and "the bill would hold funding for FSIS to the 2008 level, he says, the administration estimates that it would have to furlough all FSIS employees, including all inspectors, for 30 to 47 working days – or about 20 to 30% of the working days left in the fiscal year assuming enactment March 4." That's when the current spending legislation expires and Congress will have to pass more, which will require the House and Senate to compromise, or shut down most of the government. Agri-Pulse is a subscription-only newsletter but offers a free four-issue trial subscription.

Coal: The newly Republican House also weighed in for the coal industry. On his Coal Tattoo blog, Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette has a rundown of the votes, including EPA rules on water quality and valley fills, stream protections in surface mining and "defunding EPA’s effort to regulate toxic coal ash," a topic explored in detail by Kristen Lombardi for the Daily Yonder.

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