There's so much in (and not in) the appropriations bill for agriculture and nutrition programs, which narrowly passed House with no Democratic votes last night, 223-197, that we hardly know where to begin. But let's start with the vote to drop an amendment, approved in committee, that would have prohibited subsidy payments to farmers with adjusted gross income of more than $250,000 a year.
"The 228-186 vote still reflected growing support for this reform, which is strongly opposed by Southern land interests but has had the support of President Barack Obama and many Midwest farm-state lawmakers," writes David Rogers of Politico, who has been covering such measures for a long time.
"The farm lobby concedes that Thursday’s votes are only the opening shot in a bigger fight over a new farm bill next year. Annual direct payments are almost certain to be reduced under the recommendations coming from the House-Senate negotiations being led by Vice President Joe Biden. . . . As food aid programs —at home and abroad — are targeted for major reductions, this has strained old alliances for the farm lobby even as Republicans have felt less committed to agriculture — and traditional farm powerhouses like the ethanol lobby," which was losing a skirmish in the Senate.
"The current [subsidy] limit is $1.25 million per individual with separate maximums for farm and off-farm income," Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register explains. Brasher also writes, "In a rebuff to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the House voted to stop him from spending money on the administration’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative that’s promoting local foods and small-scale agriculture."
The House voted 223-197 to stop paying $147 million a year to the Brazil Cotton Institute in compensation for a World Trade Organization ruling that U.S. cotton subsidies violate trade treaties. That threatened final passage of the bill, so Republican leaders rounded up votes by saying that the issue would be addressed in a House-Senate conference committee.
That also seems likely for other features of the bill, such as elimination of money for the Food and Drug Administration "to implement landmark food safety laws approved by the last Congress" and cuts in nutrition programs that "hunger groups said ... would deny emergency nutrition to about 325,000 mothers and children," Layton writes. Also approved was an amendment by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, to ban the sale of genetically modified salmon, "which would be the first genetically engineered animal sold as food in the United States."
The bill also would prevent the Department of Agriculture from going through with new regulations on livestock and poultry contracts, designed to help small producers.
"The 228-186 vote still reflected growing support for this reform, which is strongly opposed by Southern land interests but has had the support of President Barack Obama and many Midwest farm-state lawmakers," writes David Rogers of Politico, who has been covering such measures for a long time.
"The farm lobby concedes that Thursday’s votes are only the opening shot in a bigger fight over a new farm bill next year. Annual direct payments are almost certain to be reduced under the recommendations coming from the House-Senate negotiations being led by Vice President Joe Biden. . . . As food aid programs —at home and abroad — are targeted for major reductions, this has strained old alliances for the farm lobby even as Republicans have felt less committed to agriculture — and traditional farm powerhouses like the ethanol lobby," which was losing a skirmish in the Senate.
"The current [subsidy] limit is $1.25 million per individual with separate maximums for farm and off-farm income," Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register explains. Brasher also writes, "In a rebuff to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the House voted to stop him from spending money on the administration’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative that’s promoting local foods and small-scale agriculture."
The House voted 223-197 to stop paying $147 million a year to the Brazil Cotton Institute in compensation for a World Trade Organization ruling that U.S. cotton subsidies violate trade treaties. That threatened final passage of the bill, so Republican leaders rounded up votes by saying that the issue would be addressed in a House-Senate conference committee.
That also seems likely for other features of the bill, such as elimination of money for the Food and Drug Administration "to implement landmark food safety laws approved by the last Congress" and cuts in nutrition programs that "hunger groups said ... would deny emergency nutrition to about 325,000 mothers and children," Layton writes. Also approved was an amendment by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, to ban the sale of genetically modified salmon, "which would be the first genetically engineered animal sold as food in the United States."
The bill also would prevent the Department of Agriculture from going through with new regulations on livestock and poultry contracts, designed to help small producers.
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