NACIA Farm Bill Update
April 24, 2008
It is certainly Spring here in Washington, D.C., but it is not certain what will become of the Farm Bill.
On Tuesday evening, the House and Senate Farm Bill Conferees held another Conference meeting. Chairman Harkin brought up the Senate proposal offered last week, stating that the ball is now in the House’s court. He stated his intentions to start voting on outstanding provisions, but that votes cannot occur without a House counter-offer. Chairman Peterson replied that the House does not have a counter-offer because they are still reviewing the Senate measure offered last week.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) reported that the meetings have been very productive in regards to their discussions on offsets and tax provisions. The two chairmen, along with Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Jim McCrery (R-LA) and Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA), left the Conference meeting to continue their discussions on these provisions.
Significant for us, the meeting resulted in the tentative “closure” of three titles – the Specialty Crop, Crop Insurance, and Commodity Exchange Act titles. However, there are outstanding provisions in each title that are either being held out to be worked on further by staff or due to funding issues.
In the crop insurance title, evidently 18 provisions were agreed to and considered closed. These 18 include:
- A provision clarifying the rules under the Federal Crop Insurance statute regarding rebating rules and farmers acting as crop insurance agents.
- A provision allowing group developing new crop insurance products to get up to 50 percent of their estimated expenses in advance.
- No SRA renegotiation until 2013, unless “adverse circumstances” arise.
- Repeal of the Premium Reduction Plan.
- A provision regarding sharing of risk formulas.
- Provisions requiring RMA to conduct studies or undertake research and development on organic crop insurance premiums and price election, crop insurance policies for beginning farmers, skip-row cultivation practices, dedicated energy crops, aquaculture, poultry production, policies for bee-keeping operations, and other issues.
It is more significant to point out the crop insurance provisions that were not resolved:
- 5 provisions not mentioned by the Conferees, other than that they depended on funding and tax provisions.
- A provision creating a national drought council.
- The level of cuts to A&O reimbursements.
- Possible reductions in premium subsidies.
- Timing shifts for premium payments.
- Aquaculture indemnity for NAP.
- RMA data mining and computer upgrade provisions.
It is interesting to note that Chairman Harkin stated that these provision were not closed out solely due to funding issues, but was corrected by Senators Roberts and Chambliss, as well as House Chairman Peterson and Ranking Member Goodlatte, who all stated that there were policy disagreements over these provisions in addition to the funding issues.
Chairman Harkin also read a statement from President Bush expressing disappointment in the lack of progress and urging Congress to extend the current bill for at least one year. President Bush’s statement declares “With record farm income, now is not the time for Congress to ask other sectors of the economy to pay higher taxes in order to increase the size of government...These tax revenue provisions are unacceptable - including tax compliance initiatives being considered by the House and Senate Conference Committee. As important, the proposal also lacks the important reforms I've repeatedly called for.”
Chairmen Harkin and Peterson, and Ranking Members Chambliss and Goodlatte all stated that a one-year extension is not acceptable. Ranking Member Goodlatte did say, however, that a one-year extension is a reality the Conference must face, and it may be the only option at this point.
Another Conference meeting was expected yesterday afternoon, but was never scheduled, due to not enough significant progress since Tuesday’s meeting. Closed-door meetings commenced this morning and have continued throughout the day. While there are rumors of a deal being close, we do not expect anything to be announced soon.There are many unresolved issues, primarily the Senate tax provisions and funding offsets. In addition, today Secretary Schafer stated that the Administration would not support the cost basis reporting requirement, an offset Conferees were planning to use to provide approximately $6 billion.
Because the current extension expires tomorrow, this afternoon the House passed a one-week Farm Bill extension (until May 2), which passed the Senate earlier this morning. House and Senate Conferees originally wanted a two-week extension, but Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) objected. We expect negotiations to continue through the weekend, with no public meetings currently scheduled.
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 Representative
http://www.nacia.org/membership.html
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