With the Super Committee failing to cut a deal on the deficit, Agriculture Committee leaders are now positioning to pass a Farm Bill by Memorial Day. This greatly improves the chances of achieving real reforms in both the sugar program and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
The Super Committee was to propose a bill trimming $1.5 trillion from the deficit by November 23. House and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders, namely Senator Stabenow (D-MI) and Representative Lucas (R-OK), had been working feverishly behind the scenes to reauthorize the Farm Bill by including it in the final Super Committee proposal. This Farm Bill would have included a full reauthorization of the current U.S. sugar program and made small cuts to CRP. But just before Thanksgiving, the Super Committee announced that it had failed to gain a consensus on how to move any deficit reduction proposal forward.
Passing a Farm Bill in the Super Committee's deficit bill was very attractive to Ag Committee leaders as it would have presented them with an opportunity to move a Farm Bill through Congress without the possibility of amendments. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack noted a few weeks ago that the opportunity for Ag Committee leaders to facilitate the Farm Bill into the Super Committee process was “strategically smart.” He indicated that the Farm Bill-Super Committee intersection could provide needed “certainty” to producers, and added that, “it beats the process we had before.” Sec. Vilsack was referring to the acrimony surrounding the 2008 Farm Bill debate, a debate that was also transparent and included multiple attempts to amend the Farm Bill.
Ag leaders are split their support of the Stabenow/Lucas Farm Bill. Senator Roberts (R-KS) has come out against their proposed Super Committee Farm Bill and Representative Peterson (D-MN) has remained mostly silent on the matter. This has only emboldened rank and file House and Senate Agriculture Committee members, as they have been mostly kept on the sidelines during this process. If Representative Peterson does join Senator Roberts in slamming the Stabenow-Lucas Farm Bill, that would increase the chances of members of the House and Senate Ag Committees calling for a clean slate.
Ag leaders now face the prospects of trying to pass a Farm Bill in an election year when many members of Congress in both parties are facing difficult elections and will need to show constituents that they have supported efforts to reduce the deficit. The $284 billion dollar Farm Bill will be a prime target. In addition, passing the Farm Bill through the House will be doubly difficult, since Speaker Boehner has not been a fan of the Farm Bill in the past and may impose an "open rule" when bringing it forward for a full House vote. An open rule would allow an unlimited number of amendments to be voted on during the House mark-up of the Farm Bill. Some Farm Bill supporters in Congress are worried that an open rule would decimate special programs within the Farm Bill, like the sugar program.
If you have any questions regarding the Farm Bill, please contact Cory Martin, ABA senior manager of government affairs, at (202) 789-0300.
The Farm Bill is variety of federal laws—permanent and expiring—govern an array of agricultural and food programs. Although many of these policies can be and sometimes are modified through freestanding authorizing legislation or as part of other laws, the omnibus, multi-year farm bill provides a predictable opportunity for policymakers to address agricultural and food issues more comprehensively.
The “farm bill” is renewed about every five years. The omnibus nature of the bill can create broad coalitions of support among sometimes conflicting interests for policies that individually might not survive the legislative process. This breadth also can stir fierce competition for available funds, particularly among producers of different commodities, or between those who have differing priorities for farm subsidies, conservation, nutrition, or other programs.
What is the Farm Bill - Congressional Research Service Report
ABA Priorities in the 2012 Farm Bill