Amendments weigh down farm bill debate, but deal expected soon
Amanda Peterka, E&E reporter
Senate leaders this week are expected to announce an agreement on how to proceed with the nearly 300 amendments filed to the farm bill, many of which target environmental regulations.
First votes on amendments could come as early as today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) signaled last week. It is still not clear, though, whether Reid will allow debate on both germane and nongermane amendments; many of the environmental amendments fall under the latter category.
"We're still trying to figure out a way forward," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has raised the possibility of using the farm bill to roll back regulations, said late last week.
Overall, the farm bill would spend $969 billion over the next decade but still cut $23.6 billion from farm programs and eliminate more than 100 program authorizations. Among the changes proposed in the bill are a consolidation of farm conservation programs and a shift from direct subsidies, which Southern crops tend to favor, to an insurance-based safety net for farmers.
The bill also would provide $800 million over the next five years for programs to construct biorefineries and grow feedstocks necessary to build up the country's cellulosic biofuel industry.
Senate agriculture leaders are hoping to reach a floor vote on the legislation as quickly as possible as the clock ticks on the 2008 farm bill, which expires Sept. 30.
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), ranking member on the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, on Thursday expressed frustration at the pace of negotiations, which have so far taken more than a week.
"I don't know how, when you have a 90-8 motion to proceed, you could possibly find yourself in this kind of a situation," Roberts said, referring to the vote the Senate took to open debate on the bill.
As negotiations have stretched, conservation groups have continued to press the Senate to vote on and approve an amendment filed by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) that would require farmers to abide by certain conservation requirements in order to receive premium subsidies for crop insurance.
The Cardin amendment has picked up three co-sponsors: Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.). Last Thursday, Chambliss also filed his own identical amendment.
More than 90 groups last week sent a letter to all senators urging them to vote for the Cardin amendment. Aviva Glaser, the National Wildlife Federation's agriculture policy coordinator, said she is seeing momentum on the issue start to pick up.
"It's an issue that sort of flew under the radar up until now, but I think it's starting to come up above the radar a little bit," she said. "We're seeing more and more in the press about crop insurance, more being questioned right now. I think the public wants to know that taxpayer dollars are going toward good use."
The American Farm Bureau Federation and the nation's large commodity groups oppose linking conservation compliance to crop insurance on the basis that it will discourage farmers from buying needed insurance in the first place.
As senators begin voting on farm bill amendments this week, the divide between the Midwest and South over the farm bill's commodity title continues to be a sticking point.
Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and ranking member Roberts are seeking to dramatically overhaul the commodity title by eliminating direct cash payments to farmers that have no tie to how many acres farmers actually plant. They have proposed boosting crop insurance and creating a new revenue insurance program that would provide farmers cover against deviations in average revenue.
But Southern crops like peanuts and rice have historically relied more on direct and countercyclical payments rather than crop insurance, and their senators are worried that those commodities may be left without a safety net.
Sens. Chambliss and Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) have both filed amendments that would retain countercyclical payments.
Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee who voted against the bill in markup, said late last week that Southern senators were not satisfied yet that their concerns were being addressed. But he expressed a desire to work out the differences.
"Ag bills are difficult to get passed. We'd like to get as much support for our bill as we can to get a good vote," he said. "The better vote that we get in the Senate, that will make the House that much easier to get their bill passed. So we'd like to not have a lot of division."
The "real threat" to the farm bill, he added, "is that people aren't able to offer the amendments they would like to make it better."
Throughout the process, Stabenow has maintained optimistic about the bill's outcome.
"We have seen now close to 300 amendments offered to the farm bill, which illustrates how important this is to our colleagues from every part of the country," she said. "We are continuing to make progress toward a final amendment package, and I'm confident we'll do what the American people want to see us do -- come together and pass a bill that will cut spending and create jobs."
