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New farm bill late, as usual
Oklahoma Call it, the mystery of the missing bill: The 2002 farm bill expired Sept. 30 and not only is there no 2007 farm bill to replace it, there is talk that it might take until December or later before a new bill is passed. Congress might extend the 2002 farm bill to make up for the legislative deficit in the meantime, said Larry Sanders, agriculture policy specialist with the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service. "Recent farm bills have been late so it's not time to panic," Sanders said. "There seems to be inertia to maintain the status quo, so we could see an extension of the 2002 bill for a year or more." The holdup is due to a stalemate in the U.S. Senate, as the administration and the House of Representatives have both published their versions of a 2007 farm bill. "Historic precedent suggests that there's some wiggle room in terms of time," Sanders said. "Authority for commodity supports covers the 2007 crop year, which extends beyond Sept. 30. Congress could appropriate funds on discretionary programs to extend beyond the current expiration date." In fact, Congress missed reauthorization deadlines for the 1985, 1990 and 1995 farm bills, yet continued funding for both mandatory and discretionary programs without underlying authority. Theoretically, if a farm bill expires and a new one is not passed, the provision of "permanent legislation" takes effect. That legislation is made up of three acts passed 60 years to 70 years ago. "In practice," Sanders said, "the secretary of agriculture must implement the permanent legislation and there is great reluctance to do so, mainly because it would be very costly and out-of-date. So that's not likely to happen. "When the 1990 farm bill expired in September 1995 and a new farm bill wasn't signed until April of 2002, then secretary of agriculture Glickman refused to 'pull the trigger,' recognizing the difficulties in doing so, and perhaps expecting Congress to eventually pass new legislation," he said. Some analysts see a protracted debate increasing the likelihood of extending the current bill and indicating that a new bill will look more like the old bill than something completely new. A recent Congressional Research Service report on the expiration of the 2002 farm bill suggests that the major risks to commodity programs are uncertainty over the size of future payments, and possibly an inability to get loans based on that uncertainty. The report also states that commodity program payments for 2007 harvested crops would be unaffected, while authority for funding discretionary and some mandatory programs, such as food stamps, would expire; however, such programs are unlikely to be affected as long as appropriations are provided. Some special authority programs would expire and might be affected, such as the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program, nutrition assistance grants to Puerto Rico and American Samoa or employment and training programs for food stamp recipients, according to the report. Sanders said that recent movement in World Trade Organization negotiations has rekindled the issue of whether a new farm bill would be shaped to fit a WTO agreement or simply ignore trade agreements. "One possibility is that a new farm bill or an extension of the existing bill could be passed for a short time until a new WTO agreement is reached," Sanders said. "Then, the farm bill might be modified to fit the WTO agreement or a new farm bill be drafted." Sanders said there is some vague authority in the 1996 farm bill that allows the secretary of agriculture to adjust programs as necessary if they would exceed agreed-upon trade limits, and it is possible such wording will be included in a new farm bill. Related to that, the Presidential Trade Promotion Authority expired last summer. "It's been suggested by some that a lack of pressure to make TPA renewal a priority indicates that there's not much will to impose WTO restrictions on a new farm bill," Sanders said. Date: 10/16/07
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