Are these guys ever going to agree on this? :???: It sounds like more of an issue of who will have control rather than what's actually in the bill.
It's starting to sound more and more like there is an extension coming.
Question? If they extend the Farm Bill for a month, how does that affect COOL? Extended again? At the moment the uncertainty is making for some real bargains up here in the feeder cattle business. It would sure be sad to give away a bunch of cattle, and then two days later get an announcement that it's extended.
These guys need to paint or get off the ladder. :!:
US farm law spat--House vs. Senate vs. White House
Published Thursday, March 06, 2008 at 05:12 AMWASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) - The tussle over the new U.S. farm law is two fights -- the House and Senate are split on issues such as disaster relief while Congress and the White House spar over a $10 billion spending increase for the law.
"They've got some serious issues to work out, including jurisdiction," Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said on Wednesday, referring to disagreements within Congress.
Farm-state leaders in the House and Senate are at odds on how to pay for the farm bill, on setting more stringent crop subsidy rules and on who will control some land stewardship work, among other issues.
Congress faces a defacto deadline of March 15 to enact a new law or extend the 2002 law. If there is no action, the Agriculture Department says it will operate the farm program under the unwieldy 1949 farm law.
In the Senate, the Finance Committee wrote a tax package that would create a $5 billion disaster fund for agriculture and would use tax credits to pay for enrolling some land in the Conservation and Wetland reserves. The package was wrapped into the Senate farm bill.
"We're going to provide the money, we're going to control the programs," Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the Republican leader on the Finance Committee, said on Tuesday. "This institutional disagreement is why we're having a hard time getting a farm bill."
House Agriculture Committee chairman Collin Peterson on Sunday told the National Farmers Union convention that he would not accept a farm bill that reduced his committee's authority.
"They've tried to take some of our jurisdiction ... which I'm not willing to do," said Peterson, Minnesota Democrat.
The biggest fight at present, in the view of one farm lobbyist, is the Finance Committee's desire to name the "offsets" that will pay for the farm bill and to keep control of the money.
Although House and Senate farm leaders disagree on the offsets, they are united in rejecting the administration's ideas.
"All the focus now is to come up with the offsets," said Schafer. He said the Congress vs. White House struggle over a spending increase has overshadowed disputes within Congress over farm policy. The administration says there must be significant reforms to justify a spending increase.
One reform requested by the administration would be to bar crop subsidies to people with an adjusted gross income above $500,000 a year, compared to the current cut-off of $2.5 million. The House and Senate voted for differing packages of tighter payment rules but neither went as far as the administration wants.
The administration says the farm bill cannot rely on tax increases or budget gimmicks to disguise over-spending nor can it increase crop subsidy rates.
Among the disputes between the House and Senate are how to reweave the farm safety net so it shields farmer revenue from poor yields, not just low prices.
The Senate opted for an "average crop revenue" program to run alongside traditional subsidies. The House proposed a nationwide crop revenue trigger for the counter-cyclical payments now made when revenue from sales and subsidies is below a target set by law.
In another area, senators voted to ban meatpackers from raising cattle in competition with farmers. Peterson said the idea has no support in the House.
It's starting to sound more and more like there is an extension coming.
Question? If they extend the Farm Bill for a month, how does that affect COOL? Extended again? At the moment the uncertainty is making for some real bargains up here in the feeder cattle business. It would sure be sad to give away a bunch of cattle, and then two days later get an announcement that it's extended.
These guys need to paint or get off the ladder. :!: