12-01-2001

AGRICULTURE: Proponents Push for Senate Farm Debate

Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle, D-S.D., and Sen. Tom Harkin,
D-Iowa, the chairman of the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Committee, held a press conference this week with 32 farm groups to
announce that they want to bring up the farm bill on the Senate floor as
soon as possible. Daschle said that Senate Republicans are trying to stall
the farm bill, and farm lobbyists said that Republican leaders are using
it as leverage to try to force Daschle to agree to bring up comprehensive
energy legislation. Although the House passed a farm bill in October, the
Bush Administration has been trying to slow down action until next year,
when the current farm bill expires. But Agriculture Secretary Ann M.
Veneman indicated this week that the Administration has given up on that
effort. In a speech this week, President Bush said a "good" farm
bill would contain a safety net that does not raise government loan rates
on grains, which he said would encourage overproduction, as well as a
special farmer savings accounts to which the Agriculture Department would
match farmers' contributions. Veneman also said she dislikes dairy
provisions in the Senate bill, which Harkin pushed through his committee
shortly before Thanksgiving.


Jerry Hagstrom/CongressDaily

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