Washington Whispers

As the world turns

For the second year in a row, as wheat farmers are harvesting their fields Congress continues to debate the future of agriculture policy. The 2012 farm bill stalled at the same time as a massive drought settled across the Great Plains and the M

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If Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-OK, can secure enough votes, a conference committee could be quickly appointed and would start meeting immediately. These include a blue card program for experienced farm workers that leads to legal status, and a new agriculture worker program administered by the Department of Agriculture that replaces the current H-2A visa program. Under the committees’ jurisdiction is discretionary funding ranging from agriculture research, food aid, the ... [Read More]

In a modern policy steeplechase, the House and Senate Agriculture Committees have kicked off from their starting blocks, but obstacles still lie ahead before a farm bill is signed into law. As the full Senate considers passing a second farm bill in as many years, the House of Representatives is speeding toward their first attempt after failing to reach floor consideration in 2012. In the first week of consideration of the farm bill, the Senate considered 12 of the over 200 filed amendments. [Read More]

To the casual observer the latest versions of the farm bill look similar to legislation passed a year ago by both the Agriculture Committees in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House version, H.R. 1947, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management (FARRM) Act of 2013, passed the committee mark up by a large, bipartisan vote of 36 to 10. Compared to a year ago, the bill found an additional $4 billion in savings through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, ... [Read More]

Many advocates of a full five-year farm bill are simply hoping to see a farm bill signed into law. Unfortunately, the agriculture industry has seen better prospects for a bill that reforms farm programs and keeps agriculture moving in a forward direction instead of backward. During the mark-up, Thune said, “A target price counter-cyclical program, in my view, is a step backwards to an old, outdated policy that we removed in last year’s Senate-passed farm bill. [Read More]

When President Barack Obama and his administration finally released the White House’s fiscal year 2014 budget request, the House of Representatives and the Senate had already passed their budget resolutions. Last year, the Senate Agriculture Committee’s farm bill represented a $23 billion reduction for the entire bill while the House Agriculture Committee passed $35 billion in savings. Both the House and Senate budget resolutions would allow the Agriculture Committees to find the needed ... [Read More]

Likewise the House Committee under the leadership of Frank Lucas, R-OK, can move the legislation in May. Finding floor time for the farm bill in the Senate, let alone the House may be a large roadblock this Congress. While the bill passed the Senate in a bipartisan manner last June, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, could wait until the House actually commits to considering the bill before letting the full Senate vote on the farm legislation. [Read More]

Just down the U.S. Highway in the county seat community, where the red paint or green paint dealership is located, agriculture is the lifeblood of community. National farm policy came to light during the Dirty Thirties when 21 percent of the workforce was involved with farming. Today, with 98 percent earning a living off the farm, it is much tougher to sell agriculture’s needs to elected officials in state houses and Washington. [Read More]

Besides passing a CR without major threats of a government shutdown for the first time in nearly four years, both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate have passed budget resolutions for the next fiscal year. The House of Representatives also passed their fiscal year 2014 budget resolution narrowly by a vote of 221-207. This year is different in that both the House and Senate have offered and passed the resolutions, before the President even offered his budget plans. [Read More]

By Seymour Klierly Date: 3/25/2013 [Read More]