Farm legislation could be pushed back
Critical funding legislation appears to be in a holding pattern
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press
Friday, November 16, 2007 10:41 AM PST
WASHINGTON — The Senate farm bill may have to wait until after next year’s elections, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin said Thursday.
The $286 billion bill, which extends agriculture and nutrition programs, has been stalled for more than a week in the Senate, where Republicans and Democrats are bickering over how many amendments to the bill will be offered.
Harkin suggested Thursday that extending current farm law for one year is an option if a Democratic attempt to cut off debate fails today.
That move requires the votes of 60 of the 100 senators.
Republicans have balked at a Democratic attempt to limit amendments, while Democrats are accusing Republicans of slowing the bill down. Some Republicans want to offer amendments dealing with the alternative minimum tax, immigration and other nonagricultural issues.
‘‘If we can’t get a farm bill through the Senate that came out of the committee without one dissenting vote . . . If we can’t do that then what’s the use trying to do it next year with the same Senate?’’ asked Harkin, D-Iowa.
Sensing an unbreakable Senate impasse, the top Republican on the House Agriculture Committee said Thursday that he would support extending the bill until Sept. 30, the end of the current budget year.
‘‘The consequences of the Senate’s inaction are already impacting the planning decisions of our farmers and ranchers,’’ said GOP Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia.
Goodlatte supported the farm bill passed by his committee but voted against the bill in the full House after Democrats added a tax on some foreign companies to pay for it. He was joined by more than 20 other farm state Republicans in calling for the extension Thursday.
The Republicans said they would rather pass a new bill but Goodlatte said the situation has become ‘‘most urgent’’ for farmers as weeks pass by.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., said talk of an extension is premature.
‘‘The budget situation isn’t getting any better, and a year from now, we may have less money available to write the farm bill,’’ he said. In the Senate, Harkin said voting to continue debate would be ‘‘like killing the farm bill.’’
He said the bill might fare better under a new Congress and a new president. The Bush administration has issued a veto threat against the bill, saying it is too expensive and would pay wealthy farmers too much.
Bush also threatened to veto the House bill, which passed in July.
‘‘Bankers need to know and farmers need to know what the program will be next year,’’ Harkin said.
Despite opposition to the bill, the Bush administration discouraged an extension.
‘‘Priorities such as conservation, nutrition and renewable energy would all be shelved without a new farm bill,’’ said Acting Agriculture Secretary Charles Conner in a statement Thursday.
‘‘There is still time for Congress to pass a new farm bill.’’
The current farm law was passed in 2002 and parts of it have been temporarily extended since it expired Sept. 30. The law governs farm subsidies, rural development, programs to protect environmentally-sensitive farm land and nutrition programs, including food stamps.
The law is popular in farm country, but members of Congress and farm groups have been reluctant to support an extension because the new bill would provide increases for several crops and domestic nutrition programs.
