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Committee Mark-up won't Include Payment Limitation Amendment

After many delays and postponements, the Senate Agriculture Committee is scheduled to begin marking up the Farm Bill on Wednesday morning.

Senators Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, have an amendment to limit farm payments to $250,000 a year per farm. But to avoid further delays of committee work on the bill, they plan to bring it to the floor and deal with the issue there. Southerners on the committee, representing rice and cotton growers, will fight new limits, so Dorgan and Grassley have agreed to bring it up during floor debate.

Dorgan and Grassley's amendment would require recipients of payments to be actively involved in farming and payments would be attributed to individuals not entities. It's similar to the House-passed bill's Adjusted Gross Income payment limit.