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Winds of change
You know the old saying: "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes." Well, in D.C., the political winds change just as quickly. Last week this column discussed House Ag Committee Republican Leader Bob Goodlatte's support for the new farm bill. Within hours of writing that column, not only did Rep. Goodlatte change his mind, but so did his entire party's committee members and about 90 percent of republicans in the House. What kind of political wind blows so strongly to change the course of so many, so quickly? Official reports point to the tax package that was included at the last minute to pay for increases in nutrition programs like Food Stamps. When the Ag Committee passed the farm bill, republicans knew $4 billion would have to be found to pay for the nutrition increases. Rep. Charlie Rangel, the chairman of the tax writing committee was instructed by Speaker Pelosi to find the money. Rep. Rangel found the money and a little bit more. The tax committee's "pot of gold" is what democrats call "closing a loophole" and republicans call a "tax increase." The additional nutrition money came from foreign owned companies who have subsidiaries in the U.S. Without getting into the weeds of tax policy, those U.S. subsidiaries would have to pay more; to the tune of $7.5 billion. Raising taxes to pay for the farm bill, according to reports, is what put republicans over the edge. They had hoped the money would come from offsets to other programs--wishful thinking. However, the real story may be what happened after the tax package was announced. At the last minute, knowing that republican support was now in jeopardy, Speaker Nancy Pelosi took control of the farm bill negotiations. Pelosi, a farm bill reformist, went scrambling for support from her left leaning colleagues. In order to buy off votes from the environmental community, Pelosi inserted language allowing a conservation program traditionally used by ranchers to target water quality issues, to be used to address air quality. Air quality is a big problem in California simply because of all the hot air coming out of Hollywood. However, should that provision become law, farmers and ranchers will have less money to implement conservation practices to help conserve water. Not good for those using the Ogallala. Next, Pelosi turned to the Congressional Black Caucus and liberals from big cities for support. Pelosi again offered more money for nutrition programs and added funds to reopen settlements of discrimination claims against the U.S. Department of Agriculture by black farmers, who previously failed to file on time. Finally, Pelosi "found" another $840 million for the McGovern-Dole food program which provides food to school children overseas. With all of these last minute additions, Pelosi was able to secure victory by a whopping 19 votes. All these extras didn't just come from "closing a tax loophole." In her scrounge for votes, Pelosi cut another $1 billion from the crop insurance industry (on top of the $4 billion in the underlying bill) and increased fees on oil and gas companies for over $6 billion. The final deal cut is so wacky, that the Department of Interior could have control over federal payments to crop insurers. Yikes! In the end, the changing political winds of last November's elections have a direct effect on this year's farm bill. Pelosi was put in control in the House and she certainly used the new found power on behalf of her liberal constituency. Congress will now go on a month long recess but when they return, the Senate will begin working on their farm bill. If what happened in the House is any indication of what's to come, hold on to your hats. No one knows where that wind will blow Chairman Harkin and Majority Leader Reid.
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