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Today begins round two of House Agriculture Committee discussions on the farm bill, with work sessions on actual amendments. Tuesday House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson introduced his markup and allowed the committee members to make opening remarks and discuss the markup. Maybe the most significant revelation out of Tuesday's meeting was Peterson's desire to introduce means testing into current farm payment limits, calling for a $1 million adjusted gross income cap on farm program eligibility (including both direct and conservation payments). He also proposed to eliminate the three-entity rule to limit payments made to an individual.
Peterson came under fire from Republicans Monday for not revealing how items in his proposal would be funded. He has two versions - one with provisions funded under pay-as-you-go rules, and the second is an "en block" amendment that includes provisions for which funding is still being sought or for which it has been promised.
As of Tuesday morning, Congressman Steve King of Iowa said "the Democrats have not yet released three simple items: the language of their proposal, where money comes from within the budget to pay for it, and an official cost estimate of their farm bill proposal."
Ranking member Bob Goodlatte of Virginia added, "In the short-term, we're being asked to support a bill that we've yet to see in final form without the final CBO scores. In the long-term, we're being asked to take a bill to the floor that lacks sufficient funding to withstand a barrage of potentially devastating amendments. We continue to urge the Chairman to pull in the reins and proceed when the funding is made available."
According to reports in CongressDaily, "Peterson said everything he has tried to put into the five-year bill has now been funded except for his proposed disaster aid program, which would cost $5 billion, and additional conservation programs that would cost $200 million."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in favor of reforms, especially in payment limits. The Center for Rural Affairs called on its members Wednesday to write Pelosi to "say no to fake farm bill reform." The letter stated, "Rumor is that Pelosi believes that this bill is reform. And that she will support the bill and protect it from amendment on the House floor."
In addition, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, along with Sen. Byron Dorgan, sent a letter to Pelosi asking her to consider legislation they have authored in the Senate that would place a hard cap on the amount of farm payments an individual can receive.
The letter comes following recent news stories which have indicated that Pelosi and the Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee had not reached an agreement on payment limits language to include in the House Farm Bill.
Grassley and Dorgan introduced legislation in May. The bill would set a limit of $250,000 for farm payments in an attempt to better target farm program payments to family farmers. Specifically, the bill caps direct payments at $20,000; counter-cyclical payments at $30,000; and marketing loan gains (including forfeitures), loan deficiency payments, and commodity certificates at $75,000.
Live audio and video will be available here of the committee's discussion.
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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