FARM BILL MARKUP PROCEEDS DESPITE OPPOSITION FROM SOUTHERN SENATORS - WHETHER IT GETS PAST THE HOUSE'S PUERTO RICAN & BRAZILIAN WHORES HAS YET TO BE SEEN
By Erik Wasson - 04/26/12 11:33 AM ET
The Senate Agriculture Committee began marking up a five-year farm bill on Thursday despite opposition from Southern senators worried about how the bill could hurt peanut and rice farmers.
The markup initially was delayed to try to work out differences, but lawmakers forged ahead Thursday and expect to report out the bill by the end of the day.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) told the meeting he was still unlikely to support the bill, given an insufficient safety net for his producers. Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) said the bill will "have a devastating impact on Southern ag."
Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said that she will continue to work with Chambliss and Boozman to change the bill as it moves to the floor.
“This is just a first step,” she said.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said his support was gained by last-minute changes to the bill that prevent farm subsidies from going to “doctors, lawyers and celebrities.”
To secure the votes of Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), Stabenow is now backing an amendment to would provide funding for biofuels.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates Stabenow's bill would cut $26.4 billion from the deficit over 10 years. The White House and House Republicans had wanted greater cuts to farm subsidies.
Stabenow defended her legislation, saying “The era of direct payments is over.” She noted that the bill abolishes controversial payments to farmers who no longer produce anything.
Ranking member Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said that commodity groups were unfairly distorting the debate over the bill. He touted the bill’s crop insurance programs and noted that even wheat producers in his home state will have to adjust to the end of direct payments.
“If all you did was listen to these groups you would think we are robbing Peter to pay Paul,” he said.
Conrad said that deficit cuts in the bill should be lauded.
“This is a win for taxpayers, a win for reformers, a win for the economy of America,” he said. He added that critics of farm programs are wrong to say that the bill overwhelmingly benefits big agribusiness.
While Chambliss was critical of the rice and peanut protections in the bill, he said that he was hopeful a new insurance program for cotton will end a costly World Trade Organization dispute with Brazil which currently has the United States paying Brazilian farmers millions of dollars in penalties. The new “STAX” program would replace counter-cyclical payments that the WTO found to be trade-distorting.
