House Agriculture Committee Announces 2007 Farm Bill Plans
News Date May 22, 2007
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) announced May 17 the process for drafting the 2007 farm bill. The panel's subcommittees will begin marking up sections of the farm bill legislation this week.
Unexpectedly, the chairman has decided not to release a full "chairman's mark" in advance of the subcommittee action as everyone had expected, saying instead that he will release his version on a section-by-section basis before the relevant subcommittee begins its markup. The first sections expected to be released are on conservation, energy, and research. Peterson also said he expects full committee work on the farm bill to begin the week before the fourth of July recess.
The Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research will hold a markup on Tuesday, May 22. The subcommittee has released a preliminary discussion draft for the conservation title of the farm bill. A copy is available online at http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/legislation.html.
On Thursday, May 24, the Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry will hold a markup on farm bill issues under their jurisdiction. The indications from congressional staff is that some form of interstate meat sales provision may be included in the livestock subcommittee draft.
On the money side, Peterson said that some provisions in each title of the farm bill would be funded by money already in the agriculture budget baseline and some would be funded from the $20 billion reserve set aside for agriculture in the budget resolution. However, he did not offer any suggestions on offsets for the $20 billion. The only specific he mentioned was to cut $1.1 billion from the Conservation Security Program. (Contact: Charlie Ingram)