TSCRA Daily News Update, April 25, 2008

Farm bill update

Meetings of the farm bill conference committee continued this week with only modest progress toward finalizing a 2007 bill. At press time, both the Senate and House have approved yet another one week extension now due to expire May 2.

It is unclear whether or not President Bush will let Congress continue to drag this out, and he is reportedly supporting a long-term extension.

"There are no signs that the conference committee will reach agreement on an acceptable farm bill by Friday," said Bush earlier this week. "I therefore call on Congress to provide our agricultural producers with the certainty to make sound business and planting decisions about this year's crop by extending current law for at least one year."

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) insists the conference committee is making progress and says farm bill deliberations will continue in the hopes of finalizing a new bill. Peterson has called a long-term extension "a bad idea" and "not an acceptable outcome."

In the meantime, NCBA's Washington, D.C. staff are on Capitol Hill actively monitoring the conference discussions to ensure that issues of concern to cattlemen are addressed in the final language. These priorities include:

Ensure that cost-share conservation programs are adequately funded.
Amend or remove the AGI and annual program payment caps in conservation programs so ranchers will continue to be eligible.
Maintain the COOL compromise language.
Remove the ban on packer ownership.