November 28, 2007
The Honorable Harry Reid The Honorable Mitch McConnell
United States Senate United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Mr. Majority Leader and Mr. Minority Leader:
The undersigned organizations are disappointed that the Senate was unable to complete work on the 2007 Farm Bill prior to the Thanksgiving recess. Consideration of the legislation reported by the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry by the full Senate has broad support throughout U.S. agriculture and rural America, and in the nutrition, conservation, and energy communities. Despite this support, the Senate was unable to initiate debate on and consideration of amendments to the Farm Bill during the two weeks prior to recess. This situation now endangers completion of a new farm bill this year.
Our organizations have repeatedly stated our support for enacting new farm legislation rather than extending the 2002 Farm Bill. Extending current law could also result in a substantial reduction in the funding available for writing the next farm bill. As you know, the spending baseline in 2007 is already substantially lower that in previous years, and a further reduction would only make writing new legislation that much harder.
As leaders of the Senate, we respectfully urge you to agree on a process for completing the 2007 Farm Bill before the end of this year that reflects the broad and bipartisan support for new farm legislation. We welcome the opportunity to work with you to finish this important task.
Sincerely yours,
American Malting Barley Association
American Soybean Association
American Sugar Alliance
National Association of Conservation Districts
National Association of State Departments of Agriculture
National Association of Wheat Growers
National Barley Growers Association
National Corn Growers Association
National Cotton Council
National Council of Farmer Cooperatives
National Farmers Union
National Milk Producers Federation
National Sorghum Producers
National Sunflower Association
Southern Peanut Farmers Federation
Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance
U.S. Canola Association
USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council
USA Rice Federation
cc: Members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry