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Farm Bill Update
February 7, 2014

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President Obama Speaks and Signs the Bipartisan Agriculture Act of 2014
Congressional Research Service Report
Lucas: Agricultural Act of 2014 Marks a New Era for Farm & Food Policy
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President Obama Speaks and Signs the Bipartisan Agriculture Act of 2014   

 

President Obama Speaks and Signs the Bipartisan Agriculture Act of 2014 at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.

 

Congressional Research Service Report

 

The 2014 Farm Bill: A Comparison of the Conference Agreement with the Senate-Passed (S. 954) and House-Passed (H.R. 2642) Bills by Ralph M. Chite

 

Congress periodically establishes agricultural and food policy in a multi-year, omnibus farm bill.

 

The 2008 farm bill governed policy for farm commodity support, horticulture, livestock, conservation, nutrition assistance, trade and international food aid, agricultural research, farm credit, rural development, bioenergy, and forestry. It originally expired in 2012, but the 112th Congress did not complete action and instead extended the law for one year (P.L. 112-240), leaving consideration of a new farm bill to the 113th Congress.

 

After nearly three years of deliberations, Congress completed action on a new omnibus farm bill when conferees reported a conference agreement on January 27, 2014 (the Agricultural Act of 2014, H.R. 2642/H.Rept. 113-333); the full House and Senate approved the conference agreement on January 29 and February 4, respectively. The President is expected to sign the measure.

 

Within the new 2014 farm bill are provisions that reshape the structure of farm commodity support, expand crop insurance coverage, consolidate conservation programs, reauthorize and revise nutrition assistance, and extend authority to appropriate funds for many U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs through FY2018, among many other provisions.

 

Under the conference agreement, farm support for traditional program crops is restructured by eliminating direct payments, the counter-cyclical price (CCP) program, and the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program. Much of the savings associated with the elimination of these farm programs would be used to offset the cost of revising the remaining programs, adding permanent disaster assistance, and enhancing crop insurance.

 

The 2014 farm bill reauthorizes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) through FY2018. The new measure restricts how a household's receipt of Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) benefits can affect SNAP benefits, accounting for most of the nutrition budget savings. Not adopted were House provisions to restrict categorical eligibility and change several time limit and work requirements.

 

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that if the mandatory programs of the 2008 farm bill were to continue, they would cost $973 billion over the next 10 years (FY2014-FY2023), which served as a baseline budget for deliberations on the 2014 farm bill. The conference agreement on the 2014 farm bill is projected to spend $956 billion over the next 10 years, of which $756 billion is for nutrition assistance and $200 billion is for the agriculture portion. Compared to the baseline, the 2014 farm bill conference agreement reduces projected spending and the deficit by $16.6 billion (-1.7%) over 10 years. This projected 10-year savings is closer to the Senate-passed bill level of $17.8 billion than the projected House-passed savings of $51.8 billion.

 

Not included in the final conference agreement were a number of controversial miscellaneous provisions such as a House provision that would have prohibited states from imposing production or manufacturing standards on agricultural products from other states, and a House provision that would have repealed livestock and poultry marketing and competition rules proposed by USDA.


Lucas: Agricultural Act of 2014 Marks a New Era for Farm & Food Policy

WASHINGTON - Chairman Frank Lucas issued the following statement today after President Obama signed the  Agricultural Act of 2014 into law.

 

"The amazing reality about farm bills is that they reflect the times in which we live.  They are reviewed, written, debated, and reauthorized nearly every five years.  Today our concerns are rightly placed on reducing the size and cost of the federal government.  With the president signing the Agricultural Act of 2014 into law, we mark a new era of farm and food policy that values saving money, reforming or repealing government programs, and yet still providing an effective safety net for the production of our national food supply and for those Americans who are struggling.   

 

"I am pleased we have a new farm bill in place to provide certainty for the next five years to America's farmers, ranchers, and consumers, and I appreciate the efforts of everyone who helped make it possible," said Chairman Frank Lucas.

 

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the conference report on January 29 by a vote of 251-166. The U.S. Senate passed it on February 4 with 68-32 vote.

 

Farm Policy Reforms

 

The Agricultural Act of 2014 includes the most significant reduction to farm policy spending in history by improving agricultural programs.

  • Repeals Direct Payments and limits producers to risk management tools that offer protection when they suffer significant losses. 
  • Limits on payments are reduced, eligibility rules are tightened, and means tests are streamlined to make farm programs more accountable.
  • Strengthens crop insurance, a successful public/private partnership that ensures farmers invest in their own risk management.
  • Provides historic reforms to dairy policy by repealing outdated and ineffective dairy programs.  Offers producers a new, voluntary, margin protection program without imposing government-mandated supply controls.
  • Supports small businesses and beginning farmers and ranchers with training and access to capital.

Food Stamp Reforms

 

The Agricultural Act of 2014 makes the first reforms to the food stamp program since the welfare reforms of 1996 while maintaining critical food assistance to families in need.

  • Closes the "heat-and-eat" loophole that artificially increases benefit levels when states provide nominal LIHEAP assistance.
  • Establishes a 10-state pilot to empower states to engage able-bodied adults in mandatory work programs.
  • Prohibits USDA from engaging in SNAP recruitment activities, and advertising SNAP on TV, radio, billboards and through foreign governments.
  • Ensures illegal immigrants, lottery winners, traditional college students, and the deceased do not receive benefits.
  • Ensures SNAP recipients are not receiving benefits in multiple states.
  • Prevents abuses such as water dumping to exchange bottles for cash.
  • Demands outcomes from existing employment and training programs.
  • Prohibits states from manipulating SNAP benefit levels by eliminating medical marijuana as an allowable medical expense.
  • Allows states to pursue retailer fraud through a pilot investigation program and crack down on trafficking through data mining, terminal ID, and other measures.
  • Increases assistance for food banks.

Additional Reforms & Regulatory Relief

 

The Agricultural Act of 2014 includes multiple regulatory relief provisions benefiting agricultural and forestry industries.   

  • Consolidates 23 duplicative and overlapping conservation programs into 13.
  • Provides one year of full funding for the Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program, which provides funding for vital services in communities containing federal lands.
  • Provides certainty to the forest products industry by clarifying that forest roads and related silvicultural activities should not be treated as a point source under the Clean Water Act.  
  • Creates a permanent subcommittee within the EPA Science Advisory Board to conduct peer review of EPA actions that would negatively impact agriculture.
  • Enhances coordination between USDA, EPA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) regarding the conflict between laws governing pesticide use and the Endangered Species Act.
  • Enhances coordination between USDA and the U.S. FWS regarding actions taken to manage the lesser prairie chicken.
  • Eliminates duplicative reporting requirements for seed importers; requires improved economic analysis of FDA regulations.

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