The Farm Bill's "overlong development period has given all the interests so many
opportunities to state their positions that they seem more dug in than
in past bill-writing efforts," Jerry Hagstrom writes for National Journal. "But at the conference last week there were
signals that the conferees think the time to act has come."
At last week's initial meeting of the House-Senate conference committee, "the last and possibly only public opportunity to make the case for their views," Hagstrom writes, almost all members limited their comments to three minutes, as House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., had asked. "And even the most ideological of them on the right and left were polite and stressed that they were there to compromise and finish a bill."
Lucas adjourned the committee until "the call of the chair," meaning that he will negotiate the final bill with his counterpart, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and the ranking minority members on each side, Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and Sen, Thad Cochran, R-Miss., with input from members most concerned about specific issues and a lot of help from their staffs, who "are furiously trying to find the same “sweet spot” on an number of issues, including commodity programs, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, crop insurance, and conservation programs," Agri-Pulse reports.
Since President Obama said passing a Farm Bill should be one of three top priorities for Congress before year's end, there has been talk of a meeting with him and the four top negotiators. Peterson "said he has mixed feelings about such a meeting because support from Obama might cause some House members to oppose the bill," he said Obama might help to resolve the wide difference in proposed cuts in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, once called food stamps, Hagstrom reports.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told C-SPAN that negotiators should take into account last week's SNAP cut, a result of the expiration of a temporary increase funded by the 2009 economic stimulus bill, but Peterson said on AgWeb's "AgriTalk" broadcast, “One of the problems with nutrition is it’s got focused on numbers, you know, now 40 billion versus 4 billion. There’s a lot of policy issues here that need to be resolved, and everybody’s kind of forgotten about that. . . . I wish we could get back to policy, and have us do the right things policy-wise, and see where that number comes out. Senator Stabenow says, and I believe her, that she cannot go to double digits,” $10 billion or more over 10 years.
"The big question now," Hagstrom writes, "is whether the food industry will weigh in on the food-stamp cut. So far Wal-Mart and other big chains where food-stamp beneficiaries spend most of their money—about $80 billion last year—have remained silent but comments by investment analysts that the food-stamp cut may affect their bottom lines and the general economy might lead them to act." However, "Heritage Action and other conservative groups have said the food-stamp cut should be even bigger than the $39 billion in the House bill."
If no new Farm Bill passes by Dec. 31, farm law would revert to a 1949 statute that would effectively double milk prices. House Speaker John Boehner strongly opposes the committees' new approach to the dairy program and could refuse to bring the bill to a vote, but Peterson told Mike Adams on AgriTalk, “If we don't get the dairy bill that I put together, then we are going to get current law, and the committee is behind me on that.” For a FarmPolicy.com transcript, click here.
At last week's initial meeting of the House-Senate conference committee, "the last and possibly only public opportunity to make the case for their views," Hagstrom writes, almost all members limited their comments to three minutes, as House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., had asked. "And even the most ideological of them on the right and left were polite and stressed that they were there to compromise and finish a bill."
Lucas adjourned the committee until "the call of the chair," meaning that he will negotiate the final bill with his counterpart, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and the ranking minority members on each side, Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and Sen, Thad Cochran, R-Miss., with input from members most concerned about specific issues and a lot of help from their staffs, who "are furiously trying to find the same “sweet spot” on an number of issues, including commodity programs, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, crop insurance, and conservation programs," Agri-Pulse reports.
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| Peterson |
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told C-SPAN that negotiators should take into account last week's SNAP cut, a result of the expiration of a temporary increase funded by the 2009 economic stimulus bill, but Peterson said on AgWeb's "AgriTalk" broadcast, “One of the problems with nutrition is it’s got focused on numbers, you know, now 40 billion versus 4 billion. There’s a lot of policy issues here that need to be resolved, and everybody’s kind of forgotten about that. . . . I wish we could get back to policy, and have us do the right things policy-wise, and see where that number comes out. Senator Stabenow says, and I believe her, that she cannot go to double digits,” $10 billion or more over 10 years.
"The big question now," Hagstrom writes, "is whether the food industry will weigh in on the food-stamp cut. So far Wal-Mart and other big chains where food-stamp beneficiaries spend most of their money—about $80 billion last year—have remained silent but comments by investment analysts that the food-stamp cut may affect their bottom lines and the general economy might lead them to act." However, "Heritage Action and other conservative groups have said the food-stamp cut should be even bigger than the $39 billion in the House bill."
If no new Farm Bill passes by Dec. 31, farm law would revert to a 1949 statute that would effectively double milk prices. House Speaker John Boehner strongly opposes the committees' new approach to the dairy program and could refuse to bring the bill to a vote, but Peterson told Mike Adams on AgriTalk, “If we don't get the dairy bill that I put together, then we are going to get current law, and the committee is behind me on that.” For a FarmPolicy.com transcript, click here.
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