March 19 , 2002

FARM BILL CONFEREES MEET TO HAMMER OUT DIFFERENCES

House and Senate farm bill conferees met for the first time on Wednesday, March 13. Little of any substance was discussed beyond a voice vote to approve 144 non-controversial items agreed upon during earlier staff-level meetings. Reportedly, there are 52 other points requiring language changes that House and Senate staff have agreed upon but not yet finalized. Some 587 specific conflicts between the two bills have also been identified. It is not clear which number has been assigned to the largest discrepancy-the distinctly different funding priorities outlined in the two bills. Total conservation funding in the bill passed by the Senate is approximately $22 billion over five years, while the corresponding figure for the first five years of the House bill is approximately $16 billion. Senate conferees are seriously considering reducing conservation spending to $18 billion, while House conferees are proposing $17.2 billion. Both figures would result in established conservation programs competing with new conservation programs as well as nutrition and dairy, while commodity programs continue to spend public funds with little discretion. House and Senate nutrition figures are similarly far apart. Though it returns little public benefit, the commodity title in both bills vastly outspends all other titles combined. Most subsidy payments are slightly higher in the House version. Staff level meetings continued throughout the weekend with the goal of reaching agreement on how funding will be allocated among the titles in the final bill. Members are scheduled to meet again today beginning at 2 PM. Some members are saying publicly that they are still aiming to have the conference report voted on by March 22, though that date approaches quickly. Today's 2PM (Eastern Time) formal meeting of the House-Senate Farm Bill Conference may be heard from your desktop - through the House Agriculture Committee Web site (http://www.agriculture.house.gov/ selecting either the Hearings menu or the Farm Bill Conference page. The exact location is http://agaudio2.house.gov/conference. If this link does not work go to The U.S. House Committee on Agriculture Web site (http://agriculture.house.gov/) for more information. Contact: Tobey Williamson, AFT's Federal Policy Program Manager, (202) 331-7000 x3020