Posted by: Phillip Fraas
November 04, 2007
Topic: REPORTS ON FARM BILL STATUS--Second Half of 2007

On Friday, November 2, the Senate Agriculture Committee reported its farm bill to the Senate and the leadership announced that floor consideration of the legislation will begin at 3PM tomorrow, Monday, November 5. The schedule, as announced so far, is for debate only on Monday, meaning no votes will be taken on amendments. Debate likely will continue throughout the week until all amendments are disposed of (unless some emergency arises that requires the leadership to pull the farm bill off the floor so the Senate can address the emergency).

Usually in the Senate, proposed amendments are introduced and printed in the Congressional Record, which allows people to get an advance sense of what the floor debate will focus on. However, in this case, none have yet been introduced, probably due to the fact that the committee bill wasn't filed until later on Friday, and staff hadn't had the chance to draft amendments tailored to it before the Congressional Record closed on Friday. Look for the proposed amendments to surface in Monday's Congressional Record and the debate on amendments to begin in earnest on Tuesday and continuing Wednesday and possibly Thursday.

The floor manager of the bill will be Agriculture Committee chairman, Tom Harkin of Iowa, and he will work with the Senate leadership over the course of the coming week in scheduling the debate on amendments. Typically in Senate farm bill debates, there will be vigorous debate on a handful of amendments, while perhaps dozens others will be agreed to by voice vote or wrapped into a omnibus manager's amendment that too will be approved by voice vote.

RIght now, the most intense debate can be expected (and the heaviest lobbying probabably is being done) on (1) a Grassley amendment to tighten limitations on eligiblity for, and amounts of, payments farmers receive under the farm income support programs; and (2) the Lugar-Lautenberg alternative farm bill that would make major reforms in the shape of the farm support programs, pushing them toward revenue insurance programs and reducing costs considerably.

The vote on the former is hard to predict; the Senate in the past has shown a stronger interest than the House of Representatives in tightening payment limitations. As to the latter, it probably doesn't have the votes--not that it wouldn't be an attractive option to many in the Senate, but legislators are not inclined to drastically switch farm policy directions unless there is an absolute need to do so, as when the markets are under severe stress or farmers appear at risk of going under. And, right now, prices are good and farmers are doing well under current programs.

More on the status of amendments in a couple days.

News

FARM BILL UPDATE: Senate Floor Debate Begins Tomorrow

News

Environment

Topics

Recent Updates

Archives

Web Resources