Posted by: Phillip Fraas
March 31, 2008
Topic: REPORTS ON 2008 FARM BILL STATUS--January 2008 To Enactment

Since the last posting on this blog two weeks ago, there has been no official word from Congress on the status of the farm bill. However, there was an unofficial report this weekend that the House of Representatives will appoint farm bill conferees today.

If that is the case, it could signal that enough progress has been made behind the scenes by congressional leaders on getting the funding roadblocks resolved that it is time to convene the conference committee for the substantive negotiations to craft a farm bill policy that will make up the new farm bill.

The conventional wisdom making the rounds the past month or so is that Speaker Pelosi would not name House farm bill conferees until the funding issues--how much to increase farm bill spending, how to pay for the increase, and how will farm bill spending be allocated among competing farm interests, including price support programs, nutrition programs, conservation programs, disaster assistance efforts, among others--were resolved. The names of the proposed Senate conferees were released in early February.

 If the resolution of the funding issues are sufficiently advanced that conferees can be named as early as today, look for the conference committee to officially convene within a day or so. The reason for the speed is clear--the current USDA farm bill programs that operate on a day-to-day basis, like the dairy program (which makes price support purchases of milk every day), expire on April 18. It will be a Herculean task, at best, to complete conference on the hundreds of differences between the Senate and House versions of the farm bill, and then have congressional staff put conference agreements into acceptable statutory language, in just 18 days. It can be done, but it won't be easy.

Of course, the weekend report might turn out to be unfounded. Look for a follow-up posting on where things stand within a couple of days.

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