Posted by: Phillip Fraas
November 11, 2007
Topic: REPORTS ON FARM BILL STATUS--Second Half of 2007

Senate floor debate on the 2007 farm bill got derailed shortly after the bill was brought up for consideration last week. On Monday, November 5, there were a couple of hours of opening statements on the legislation, to set the stage for debate on specific amendments beginning the following day. But, it quickly became apparent early on Tuesday, November 6, that the majority Democrats had not reached an agreement with the minority Republicans on the ground rules for the amendment process.

Senate rules governing floor debate of legislation are very flexible, so the leadership usually seeks a unanimous consent agreement limiting debate . Here, Majority Leader Reid had been looking for agreement by Republicans that nongermane amendments (that is, amendments that go beyond the specific topics covered in the farm bill, as drafted by the Agriculture Committee) would not be allowed during the floor debate, as well as an accord on a specific list of amendments that could be offered. It seems the Republicans were heading in just the opposite direction--they were interested in a wide-ranging debate covering a lot of topics and involving more amendments than the Democrats were interested in.

As of the end of the week, the stalemate had not been broken. While there was some further discussion of the farm bill on the floor, no amendments were allowed to be debated and the legislative process effectively ground to a halt.

No doubt, the two sides have spent this weekend trying to hash out their differences; and if those talks succeed, the Senate could turn back to the farm bill early this week and wrap up consideration of the measure before it leaves for Thanksgiving recess on Friday.

If we continue through this week without any progress, however, the whole farm bill process threatens to unravel. As mentioned, Congress will be out next week for Thanksgiving travel, which leaves just four more weeks in this session of Congress before final adjournment some time around December 21. That is very little time for the Senate to complete its work and then for the House-Senate conference committee to resolve the hundreds, if not thousands, of differences between the two bodies on the farm bill. Pressure will only grow day by day for some emergency action to extend current farm bill programs temporarily to give Congress additional time next spring to complete work in drafting the new farm bill.

Also on last Monday, Acting Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Conner announced that the President's senior advisors would recommend that the President veto the Senate farm bill, if it were sent to him for his signature in its current form. The reasons for the veto threat were spelled out in a seven-page Statement of Administration Policy issued on Tuesday. The Statement can be found at the Office of Management and Budget web site, www.omb.gov.

The gravamen of the Administration's objections to the Senate farm bill is that it increases spending and pays for it by tax law changes that increase tax revenues and accounting maneuvers that the Administration considers questionable, and that it doesn't go far enough in reforming current programs.

While the diferences between the Administration and Congress on how much reform to have in this farm bill likely could be resolved amicably, their differences on increased spending and how to pay for it are much more difficult to bridge. At this point, it is hard to see how that dispute can be resolved without one side or the other backing down.

Thus, by the end of last week, things were looking grim for the new farm bill. But, as Yogi Berra was reputed to have said, "it ain't over until it's over," and we're not at that concluding point yet. Stay tuned

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FARM BILL UPDATE: Senate Floor Debate Bogs Down And The Administration Threatens Veto

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