Del.icio.us  Digg  facebook  MySpace  Twitter  Google  Bookmark Me  LinkedIn  StumbleUpon  Permalink

Super Committee Fails, Now What?

The announcement today that the Congressional Super Committee has thrown in the towel isn't a big surprise, but it is now official and reactions from farm country are coming already. The National Corn Growers Association issued a statement from President Garry Niemeyer who commented on the committee's failure:

"We’re disappointed the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction did not agree on a plan to reduce our federal deficit. We appreciate the hard work of the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Ag Committees to meet agriculture’s responsibility to help address our debt crisis," he says. "NCGA will continue to advocate for market-based risk management farm programs that recognize our nation’s difficult financial situation. As the farm bill process moves into next year, we look forward to working with the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to address the critical challenges facing America’s corn farmers."

In Congress, Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., chair of the House Agriculture Committee, and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee issued a joint statement in response about how the measure may impact the farm bill:

"House and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders developed a bipartisan, bicameral proposal for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction that would save $23 billion. However, the Joint Select Committee’s failure to reach a deal on an overall deficit reduction package effectively ends this effort. We are pleased we were able to work in a bipartisan way with committee members and agriculture stakeholders to generate sound ideas to cut spending by tens of billions while maintaining key priorities to grow the country’s agriculture economy. We will continue the process of reauthorizing the farm bill in the coming months, and will do so with the same bipartisan spirit that has historically defined the work of our committees."

Already there are moves by both sides of Congress to move on ways to limit the impact of automatic spending cuts that may go into effect by 2013 - including protections for Defense and entitlement programs. The wrangling over spending and concerns the committee might fail, combined with continuing European debt worries peeled 250 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average in Monday's trade as well. The failure of the committee was anticipated, this afternoon's announcement just makes it official.