Dalton Hillman
2013-12-15 05:34:47 UTC
Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Senate will not extend
current farm law if Congress can't agree on a new farm bill
before adjourning next week.
House leaders have reserved space on their agenda this week for
extending the current law until the end of January. Lawmakers
fear that milk prices might rise sharply if dairy subsidies
expire Jan. 1.
The House and Senate have passed separate versions, but with
widespread differences over crop subsidies and how much to cut
food stamps.
House Speaker John Boehner said last week that the House should
extend the current law while negotiators seek a compromise. But
Reid balked at that plan.
"Let them vote on it. We're not going to do it," he said Tuesday.
Some senators fear an extension relieves pressure to get a deal.
The Senate Agriculture Committee, led by Democratic Sen. Debbie
Stabenow of Michigan, tweeted Tuesday, "We don't need an
extension -- we can get this done this week."
In a separate tweet, the committee said a short-term extension
could allow subsidies called direct payments to continue. Those
subsidies are paid to farmers whether they plant or not and have
come under political fire from conservatives and others who have
lobbied for less spending on farm programs. Both the House and
Senate farm bills would eliminate the subsidies and create new
ones.
Finding a compromise on cuts to the nation's $80 billion-a-year
food stamp program has been the toughest obstacle in the talks
between the House and the Senate. The House passed a bill this
summer that would cut $4 billion from food stamps annually and
allow states to create new work requirements for some
recipients. The Democratic Senate, backed by President Barack
Obama, passed a farm bill with $400 million annual cut, or a
tenth of the House cut.
Negotiators have focused on cracking down further on a practice
in some states of giving low-income people as little as $1 a
year in home heating assistance, even when they don't have
heating bills, in order to make them eligible for increased food
stamp benefits. The Senate found its $400 million in annual cuts
by requiring that recipients receive at least $10 in assistance
to make them eligible, while the House doubled that cut by
requiring that recipients receive $20 annually -- bringing the
savings to around $800 million a year.
North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven, a Republican who sits on the
House-Senate conference committee, confirmed that negotiators
have floated that $800 million in annual cuts plus pilot
programs that would create new work requirements in a handful of
states. But he stressed that there is not a final deal.
Hoeven said he agreed that the Senate should not pass an
extension.
"We want to keep the pressure on to get a farm bill done," he
said.
Negotiators are also working out how farm subsidies should be
restructured in the absence of the direct payments. The two
chambers have argued over how to replace those payments, with
major farm groups squabbling over whether subsidies should kick
in based on crop prices or farmer revenue, and how to count the
acreage on which the subsidies are based.
If the negotiators can't agree on a bill and Congress allows the
dairy supports to expire, 1930s and 1940s-era farm law would go
into effect. Those laws would raise the price that the
government currently pays to purchase dairy products, prompting
many processors to sell to the government instead of commercial
markets. That would decrease commercial supply and consequently
raise prices for shoppers at grocery stores.
Prices wouldn't go up immediately, as the Agriculture Department
would have to write the new rules based on the old laws and then
put them into place. Hoeven and other senators have said that
the Agriculture Department could delay writing the new laws
while members of Congress finish working on the bill.
But it is unclear if Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack would go
along with that. He said last month that he is prepared to
implement the new laws "in short order" if current law expires.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/10/reid-says-senate-will-
not-extend-farm-law/?intcmp=obnetwork
current farm law if Congress can't agree on a new farm bill
before adjourning next week.
House leaders have reserved space on their agenda this week for
extending the current law until the end of January. Lawmakers
fear that milk prices might rise sharply if dairy subsidies
expire Jan. 1.
The House and Senate have passed separate versions, but with
widespread differences over crop subsidies and how much to cut
food stamps.
House Speaker John Boehner said last week that the House should
extend the current law while negotiators seek a compromise. But
Reid balked at that plan.
"Let them vote on it. We're not going to do it," he said Tuesday.
Some senators fear an extension relieves pressure to get a deal.
The Senate Agriculture Committee, led by Democratic Sen. Debbie
Stabenow of Michigan, tweeted Tuesday, "We don't need an
extension -- we can get this done this week."
In a separate tweet, the committee said a short-term extension
could allow subsidies called direct payments to continue. Those
subsidies are paid to farmers whether they plant or not and have
come under political fire from conservatives and others who have
lobbied for less spending on farm programs. Both the House and
Senate farm bills would eliminate the subsidies and create new
ones.
Finding a compromise on cuts to the nation's $80 billion-a-year
food stamp program has been the toughest obstacle in the talks
between the House and the Senate. The House passed a bill this
summer that would cut $4 billion from food stamps annually and
allow states to create new work requirements for some
recipients. The Democratic Senate, backed by President Barack
Obama, passed a farm bill with $400 million annual cut, or a
tenth of the House cut.
Negotiators have focused on cracking down further on a practice
in some states of giving low-income people as little as $1 a
year in home heating assistance, even when they don't have
heating bills, in order to make them eligible for increased food
stamp benefits. The Senate found its $400 million in annual cuts
by requiring that recipients receive at least $10 in assistance
to make them eligible, while the House doubled that cut by
requiring that recipients receive $20 annually -- bringing the
savings to around $800 million a year.
North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven, a Republican who sits on the
House-Senate conference committee, confirmed that negotiators
have floated that $800 million in annual cuts plus pilot
programs that would create new work requirements in a handful of
states. But he stressed that there is not a final deal.
Hoeven said he agreed that the Senate should not pass an
extension.
"We want to keep the pressure on to get a farm bill done," he
said.
Negotiators are also working out how farm subsidies should be
restructured in the absence of the direct payments. The two
chambers have argued over how to replace those payments, with
major farm groups squabbling over whether subsidies should kick
in based on crop prices or farmer revenue, and how to count the
acreage on which the subsidies are based.
If the negotiators can't agree on a bill and Congress allows the
dairy supports to expire, 1930s and 1940s-era farm law would go
into effect. Those laws would raise the price that the
government currently pays to purchase dairy products, prompting
many processors to sell to the government instead of commercial
markets. That would decrease commercial supply and consequently
raise prices for shoppers at grocery stores.
Prices wouldn't go up immediately, as the Agriculture Department
would have to write the new rules based on the old laws and then
put them into place. Hoeven and other senators have said that
the Agriculture Department could delay writing the new laws
while members of Congress finish working on the bill.
But it is unclear if Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack would go
along with that. He said last month that he is prepared to
implement the new laws "in short order" if current law expires.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/10/reid-says-senate-will-
not-extend-farm-law/?intcmp=obnetwork