ACSA Reports Farm Bill Closer
7 April 2008 The report said that House and Senate negotiators indicate they are close to agreement on a new Farm Bill. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) said they had found most of the additional U.S. $10 billion necessary to close the deal. He noted that a framework had been worked out, but finding the “source of the funding” is the sticking point.
According to House and Senate Committee sources, almost $7 billion of the funding would come from a Custom User’s fee account that Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer said the White House goes along with. Finding the other $3 billion that the White House does not consider a new tax remains a problem.
Another hitch in the process is a demand by House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) that more money be allocated for food stamps and nutrition programs given the rise in food prices. “The bill needs to address soaring food prices,” he said. Rangel, one of the most influential members of the House, said he wanted the Farm Bill to have more funds devoted to food and nutrition programs so that it would “be more palatable to those who are less inclined to support it.”
As soon as the additional funding issue is resolved, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will name the House conferees and the House-Senate Conference will begin to work in earnest to resolve the remaining differences between the House and Senate measures.
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