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A long way from the finish
One hurdle down, three more to go. The House passing their version of the farm bill last week puts farmers closer to having a new farm bill. It does little, however, to tell them what the bill will look like. The Senate must pass their version of a farm bill, which many experts believe will be very different from that House version. A conference committee will then be charged with ironing out the differences and lastly, President Bush must sign it. The problem, obviously, is that not everyone agrees on what the farm bill should look like. So until at least one more of the hurdles are successfully completed, it will be difficult to know what the outcome of legislation will be. The Senate will most certainly be more favorable to the Conservation Security Program. CSP is Tom Harkin's pet program and he will make sure it is treated well. Payment limits will surely be restricted more than the House's version which did not go as far as some would have liked. Farm Credit's proposal that would have given the cooperative more freedom in the types of loans the group can make, was removed at the last minute. Usually, the president signing the farm bill is just a formality. This year, however, he threatened the House that he would not sign a bill that spent more than what he requested. So while the House passing the farm bill has made for lots of rhetoric from farm groups, legislators and journalists, the industry is still a long way from a farm bill in hand. It will be months before that is accomplished. Holly Martin can be reached by phone at 1-800-452-7171, ext. 1806 or e-mail at hmartin@hpj.com.
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