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House and Senate conferees have their work cut out for them in a race to get a final farm bill approved before the end of the week deadline. Major discussions continue on the $6 billion over baseline offer (from the House), $2.5 billion in agricultural tax credits, and a $4 billion permanent disaster aid (Senate offer). Tuesday Conference Chairman Tom Harkin said the conference committee had approved three major titles of the bill: credit, research and trade. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson made strong comments against the need for a short-term extension, despite threats from the White House that if a deal isn't done by the April 18 deadline that the President would only accept a one or two-year extension.
According to a statement from Harkin, staff for committee members continues to work through a few remaining issues in each title, which are expected to be resolved. For more details on the three approved titles, click here.
Reports indicate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opposes including any tax credits in the farm bill, the latest sticking point in House-Senate negotiations. The Senate Finance Committee, led by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., and ranking member Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, are fighting for the $2.5 agricultural tax credits including a new tax credit for cellulosic ethanol and extension of the existing tax credit for biodiesel.
Tuesday Baucus and Grassley met behind closed doors with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel and ranking member Rep. Jim McCrery. Senate Ag Committee Chairman Tom Harkin predicted that any deal coming from those discussions would increase funding for the nation's nutrition programs.
Meanwhile both Harkin and House Ag Committee Collin Peterson said during Tuesday's conference they did not believe their chambers had the votes to pass a one-year extension of the 2002 farm bill should efforts fail to agree on the new bill.
Peterson said he would not support a one-year extension and would fight to keep it from passage. He suggested that the White House was ready to introduce the extension. Simply extending the existing bill would short circuit new funding for specialty crops, nutrition programs, conservation, and renewable energy that House members fought hard to get in the bill.
Click here to view the re-cast of Tuesday's conference meeting. FarmPolicy.com also has a shortened audio podcast recap of Tuesday's actions. To listen to that, click here.
Conferees will reconvene Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. EDT work on remaining -- and more controversial titles.
There is growing sentiment Friday's deadline won't be met. Some expect an extension for another month, but others are saying it must be extended at least a year. Talk of a long-term extension is "not an acceptable outcome," Peterson said.
Policy is one of the most important issues facing farmers today, but often the most difficult to digest. Jacqui Fatka has a passion to decode the often difficult world of agricultural policy into terms understandable for today's ag players.
Fatka joined the Farm Progress team as E-Content Editor in August 2003 after graduating from Iowa State University. Prior to full-time employment with Farm Progress, she interned at Wallaces Farmer magazine, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley's press office and the Iowa Pork Producers Association and freelanced for National Hog Farmer. She also worked as a public relations consultant with Iowa Industries for the Future, an effort to bring together major players in the biorenewables industry.
Currently Fatka is a staff editor at a sister publication, Feedstuffs. For Farm Futures she regularly tells the story of ongoing agricultural policy changes. Her byline can also be found on management profiles.
Fatka grew up on a grain and livestock farm near Atlantic, Iowa. She currently lives in central Ohio with her husband Eric.
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