12-15-2001

AGRICULTURE: Senate's Farm Bill Debate Drags On

The Senate spent much of the week slogging through amendments and cloture
motions to the farm bill, with no final vote yet in sight. Majority Leader
Thomas A. Daschle, D-S.D., indicated on December 13 that the Senate would
probably return to debating the farm bill on December 18, after voting on
the education reform conference report. The Bush Administration has said
it "strongly opposes" the farm bill proposed by Sen. Tom Harkin,
D-Iowa, the chairman of the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Committee, and instead supports a Republican alternative proposed by Sens.
Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and Pat Roberts, R-Kan. The Administration also
opposed the farm bill approved by the House in October. Although the
current farm bill does not expire until next year, farm groups and
farm-state lawmakers have been pushing hard for enactment of a new bill
this year.




National Journal