Click on the headline above for the full article.
Farm bill wrangling continues on Capitol Hill while the nations farmers wait for the House to appoint farm bill conferees as Senate conferees were named late last week. In the mean time, President Bush has renewed his threat to veto any farm bill that includes increased taxes and fails to make significant changes to farm programs.
"Congress is considering legislation now," said Bush during the swearing in ceremony of Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer. "It seems like to us it lacks reform; it spends too much money and raises taxes. I'm confident we can come together to get a good farm bill, but if Congress sends me legislation that raises taxes or [does] not make needed reforms, I'm going to veto it."
The veto threat drew strong criticism from Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. To listen to Harkin's comments, click here.
"For President Bush to continue to take a hard line and threaten to veto a farm bill is unproductive and against the bipartisan spirit that made this bill a reality and that carried it through the Senate with one of the largest votes in the history of farm bills.
"This measure is critical for our farming families and rural communities in Iowa and across this country, so I urge the president to back away from this position and instead work with farm bill negotiators to come up with a bill he can sign. The Senate farm bill is a good, strong measure that balances spending with revenues raised by closing tax loopholes and ending tax abuses — not by raising taxes — as the President has suggested," Harkin said.
The Senate named members of the farm bill conference committee. Harkin will chair the committee in the attempt to bring House and Senate farm bill versions to cohesion.
Democratic conferees are: Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus (D-MT); Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Kent Conrad (D-ND); Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy (D-VT); Senate Agriculture Committee Member Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Senate Agriculture Committee Member Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).
Republican Senate conferees are: Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-GA); Former Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, Charles Grassley (R-IA); Ranking Member Senate Appropriations Committee, Thad Cochran (R-MS); and Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS).
When it comes to protecting payment limits, many of the Southern supporters are on the committee including Arkansas's Sen. Lincoln and of course ranking member Sen. Chambliss. However, you also have Grassley and Lugar who have introduced tighter payment limitation legislaiton in the past.
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.
Powered by iNet Solutions Group ©2011 All Rights Reserved.