FARM BILL NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE WITH NEW FUNDING PLAN OFFERED

News Date March 24, 2008

       House and Senate negotiators are continuing to work on the 2007 farm bill and a new funding proposal was offered in the Senate last week. The "closed door" discussions are taking place although Congress is taking a two-week spring recess until April 1. 
       On March 18, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) announced a "preliminary funding framework" on how the $10 billion in additional spending over the budget baseline would be allocated in the farm bill. The proposed funding framework would allocate $1.4 billion for commodities, $4.9 billion for conservation, $9.5 for nutrition, $1.4 billion for specialty crops, $1 billion for energy, and $2.2 billion for disaster assistance.
       However, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) issued a statement on the same day saying the funding proposal was "dead on arrival" with him and other senators. Baucus said the Finance Committee had created a fully-paid for $5.1 billion fund for permanent disaster assistance and "I will won't vote for or help to fund any agreement that does not do disaster assistance right for our farmers in need." 
       Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer and USDA Deputy Secretary Chuck Conner held a teleconference with reporters on March 18 to discuss the farm bill and the extension of current law. Schafer repeated the administration's veto threats if the farm bill includes tax increases or does not provide certain policy reforms. Congress passed legislation (S. 2745) on March 12 to extend the current 2002 farm bill until April 18. The extension was necessary because the existing farm bill was scheduled to expire on March 15 and the 1949 permanent farm law would have gone into effect. President Bush said in a statement that if lawmakers can not reach an agreement on the farm bill by April 18, then he would call on Congress to extend current farm law for at least one year. (Contact: Charlie Ingram)