NACIA Farm Bill Update -- Weekly Recap
April 4, 2008
Things in Washington are getting down to the wire regarding the Farm Bill, with the April 18 expiration date of the current extension quickly approaching. However, we do not seem much closer to anything than we were last week.
Staff continues to meet and work hard to resolve all policy issues, and there is a generally agreed upon framework regarding how much money would be spent for each title and the provisions within each title. However, that’s just it – there is no money to spend.
Currently, the main obstacle to it all coming together and the Farm Bill passing is the distance between Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus and House Was and Means Committee Chairman Rangel. Chairman Baucus’ most important issue is the permanent disaster fund, which is set to get $4 billion under the current framework. However, Chairman Rangel’s most important issue is nutrition funding for Food Stamps and other domestic nutrition assistance programs. The House-passed Farm Bill contained $11.5 billion in nutrition funding, while the Senate-passed bill contained $14 billion, and the current framework will only spend approximately $9 billion. Chairman Rangel’s staff has been quoted saying that he is not seeking extra funding for nutrition, but “he is looking to ensure that his promise to fund the nutrition provisions will not be manipulated to pay for extraneous projects in the Senate.”
It was reported yesterday that Chairman Harkin stated that due to the pressing April 18 deadline, funding needed to be figured out in the next 48 hours to allow sufficient time for the writing of a final bill. While another short-term extension is a possibility, political will is opposed to that and senior Senate staff has stated that they would have to be “in the middle of writing the final conference report on April 18” for an extension to happen.
So even if it all comes together and the Farm Bill is passed, the other hand could fall in the form of an Administration veto. This has been a possibility since the very beginning. The sources of the funding offsets will be the deciding factor, as the President has repeatedly said that he will veto any bill that raises taxes or contains new taxes. House Ways and Means Ranking Member McCrery (R-LA), which has so far not been extremely high-profile in Farm Bill negotiations, has reportedly stated that no progress has been made since mid-March on new funding for the Farm Bill. His prediction is that Congress will either extend the 2002 farm law for one to three years or the bill will be re-written with no new money.
As we have mentioned previously, the current framework contains severe and disabling cuts to the crop insurance program, demanding $5.9 billion from risk management and $3.22 billion directly from crop insurance, most likely in the form of an A&O cut possibly as high as 2.9 points. We continue to work with staff to do what we can to avert this, and may need to call on you to contact your Representative and Senators.
We will continue to closely be involved in this process to the extent possible, and will keep you updated as developments occur.
We wanted to let you know that for your convenience, you can pay your 2008 NACIA dues online. To streamline the dues process, we are transitioning to a first quarter annual dues request. If you paid your 2007 dues during the subsequent quarters last year, we apologize. However, this is necessary to continue to improve NACIA as an organization and enhance its ability to better serve crop insurance agents and act as the only voice speaking solely on behalf of agents. Your support is vital during this tenuous time, as the crop insurance program is being looked at as a funding source for other Farm Bill provisions.
If you would prefer to pay by check, the link will also take you the membership form, which can be printed, filled out, and mailed in with your payment.
Brent W. Gattis
NACIA Washington Rep
http://www.nacia.org/membership.html
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Kathy Fowler, NACIA President, 110 North 6th Street, P.O. Box 368, Memphis, TX 79245
phone: 806-259-1842, toll free: 877-390-9862, toll free fax: 800-848-3216
email: info@nacia.org, web: www.nacia.org
© 2008 National Association of Crop Insurance Agents. All rights reserved. Privacy & Non-Discrimination
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