FARM BILL– WE’RE ON OUR WAY! Farm Bill passes House by 2 to 1
margin After weeks of difficult debate, on April 30th, House and Senate
conferees finally edged close enough to each other’s position to come to
agreement. However, even this agreement was tenuous as final CBO scoring
was required before the concrete was set and the bill could go to the full
House and Senate. The agreement passed CBO scrutiny and was prepared for
House consideration.
The bill reauthorizes Federal agriculture programs for six years. It
re-established programs that supply payments to producers when commodity
prices fall below a specified level. In addition to support for farmers,
the provisions include $243 billion for food stamps, restored benefits for
legal immigrants, and increased conservation spending to $17.1 billion.
Country of origin labeling requires certain goods to be labeled by country
origin. Limits on payments to individual farmers was lowered to $360,000
and it authorized a new $1 billion dairy program for three and a half
years.
Chairman Larry Combest promised that the bill would be on the floor
before the week was out. True to his word, the Conference Report and HR
2646 were brought before the House two days later, on Thursday morning,
May 2.
However, there was considerable debate about the agreement from outside
the agriculture community. An April 30th a group letter to House Members
from organizations including American Rivers, Chesapeake Bay Foundation,
Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Defense, Environmental Working Group,
Friends of the Hearth, the Humane Society, Audubon Society, Wildlife
Foundation, Sierra Club and Taxpayers for Common sense, sought support for
a Motion to Recommit the Farm Bill. Their concerns were that the conferees
did not heed the House’s instruction to revise payment limitation
language, and their belief that an 80% increase in conservation funding
was inadequate. They contended that the savings from greater limitations
could serve to increase conservation programs.
Although NAWG was confident that the bill would succeed on its merits,
and because the critical needs of agriculture were evident, the intensity
of the opposition by special interest groups could not be ignored.
Commodity and farm groups increased their efforts to remind Members of the
importance of this vote for farmers. NAWG’s visits to the Hill revealed
that farmers had stepped up to the plate, and had contacted members and
explained the value of the bill.
The efforts paid off and the amendment offered by Ron Kind (D-WI) to
recommit to conference was rejected by a vote of 172-251. The vote to
adopt the conference report that would authorize programs for six years
passed by 280-141, nearly a two-to-one vote.
Now that the House has passed the farm bill, the action moves to the
Senate. The Senate currently has a unanimous consent agreement under which
there will be twelve hours of debate. Six hours begin on Tuesday, May 7 at
9:30 a.m. (EDT) with six hours of debate on Wednesday, May 8, to be
followed by a vote on final passage. The president has indicated that he
is awaiting final passage by the Senate and will sign the bill.
