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Recess is overBy Seymour Klierly Recently two former Senate majority leaders released a farm bill proposal that has them at odds with many current agriculture committee members and the USDA. During the congressional recess, former Senators Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Bob Dole of Kansas offered up a plan to restructure the current farm bill. Their plan includes a $250,000 payment limit, increases for the marketing loan program and a permanent disaster assistance program. They do all this and more while saving the taxpayers $4.68 billion per year. This budget savings is the result of the tighter payment limit and the elimination of direct payments under the commodity title. It must be nice for former members to have the freedom to draft legislation without the worry of finding enough votes to pass their plan. This proposal takes a swipe at just about everyone. Southern producers will oppose the strict payment limits, wheat growers will oppose the elimination of direct payments, and the World Trade Organization may have a field day with the marketing loan increases. A week after the Daschle-Dole bombshell, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns apparently told a group of commodity organizations that he has concerns that some want the new bill to shift money from direct payments into other, more trade distorting programs like the current counter cyclical program and marketing loans. Do you think he was speaking indirectly to the former leaders? Johanns is obviously mindful of additional challenges by countries to U.S. farm policy. Brazil and Canada have weighed in before and Johanns wants to avoid a bill that further opens the U.S. to global scrutiny. In addition to the dynamic duo of Daschle and Dole, Senate Chairman Harkin and many environmental groups support pulling the plug on direct payments. This fight over direct payments is a major sticking point and will pit members within the same party against each other. Chairman Peterson's commodity title draft is expected to be released soon and will be the first opportunity for this battle to play out in a committee. Unfortunately after the week-long Memorial Day break, congressional members also returned hearing somber news about a true advocate not only for agriculture, but also for preserving the rural way of life. On Monday evening, Wyoming Senator Craig Thomas lost his seven month battle with leukemia at the age of 74. Senators spent Tuesday morning on the floor honoring Sen. Thomas, highlighting his devotion to serving his constituents and America. Sen. Thomas served two terms in the House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate in 1994. Last November, he won his re-election bid with 70 percent of his state's votes. Republican leader Mitch McConnell called Sen. Thomas "the modern-day embodiment of the cowboy ideal." Sen. Thomas had been undergoing treatment since November, but was known to schedule his chemotherapy at times when he wouldn't miss votes on floor. He was dedicated to serving his country both as a Marine and as an elected official. He certainly will be missed and remembered.
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