TSCRA Daily News Update, May 2, 2008

Farm bill moves forward

According to NCBA and Capitol Hill staff, the farm bill Conference Committee has met and crafted final deals to move the bill forward this week, with principal members of the conference putting in late hours to come to agreement on key issues.

Consideration of the livestock and conservation titles-including the ban on packer ownership of cattle, clarifying country-of-origin labeling (COOL) language, and funding for Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)-was of interest to producers.

The first order of business was to determine whether these provisions would be under a livestock title (as found in the Senate bill) or a miscellaneous title (as found in the House bill). The House receded from their position, and as a result, the new farm bill will have a livestock title in it.

The ban on packer ownership of cattle was the only outstanding issue in the livestock title to be addressed by the members of the conference. After debate on the provision, the Senate put the packer ban up for a vote, and it was voted down by a resounding voice vote.

Since the packer ban failed on the Senate side, the House did not have to vote and the ban was removed from the farm bill. In addition, the Office of Special Counsel was removed from the farm bill before the members of the conference had to vote on it.

This recent action also means we are one step closer to having a country-of-origin labeling law for which USDA can write a rule. The language in the farm bill provides for the same four-tier labeling system that was passed as a part of the House farm bill in July 2007. The only change is the grandfather date has been extended from Jan. 1, 2008, to July 15, 2008.

The members of the conference took action on the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) regarding the total funds available for an EQIP contract. Both the House and Senate agreed that individual EQIP contracts will not exceed $300,000 over six years.

However, the Secretary of Agriculture may grant a waiver for environmentally significant projects, which would boost that number to $400,000 over six years. After agreeing to this provision, the entire conservation title was accepted.

All titles of the farm bill have been considered and accepted, but they are not quite done yet. A handful of outstanding issues, such as adjusted gross income (AGI) caps and payment limits, still have to be worked out.

House and Senate Ag Committee staff were instructed to work over the weekend to solve these issues, and Chairman Harkin expects to reconvene the conference committee next Tuesday afternoon to finish the bill.

Chairman Harkin expects to vote on the conference report next week and have it on the President's desk before the current 2002 farm bill extension expires on May 16. Once the Conference Committee completes their action, the resulting committee report cannot be amended and is subject only to an up or down vote by the entire House and Senate.

The last hurdle for the farm bill will be whether or not the President will sign it. Although he has not made a formal statement that he will veto the bill, he made several comments this week that he would.

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