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Farm Bill Issues
On yesterday’s Agriculture Today radio program (The Red River Farm Network) Mike Hergert conducted an interview with House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D., Minn.).
An audio replay of the Red River Farm Network interview is available here (MP3- 8:07), while an unofficial transcript of their conversation is available here.
Posted by Keith Good • February, 21, 2012 • 5:28 am Budget: Payroll Tax –Debt Limit –Energy
Paul Kane and Ben Pershing reported in today’s Washington Post that, “Amid some dissent, House and Senate leaders prepared for final votes Friday for an economic package worth more than $150 billion that would extend a payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits for the rest of the year.
“While Senate Republicans protested, the remaining members of a House-Senate committee tasked with forging a compromise pronounced themselves satisfied with the deal, signing the 270-page compromise Thursday afternoon in a bipartisan ceremony that stood in sharp contrast to the otherwise bitterly partisan tone of this Congress.”
Posted by Keith Good • February, 17, 2012 • 5:46 am Budget issues and Senate Farm Bill Hearing
Naftali Bendavid and Siobhan Hughes reported in today’s Wall Street Journal that, “Congressional negotiators working on a deal to extend jobless benefits and a payroll-tax cut say they have come to a deal, paving the way for a vote before the policies expire at the end of the month.
“‘We have reached an agreement,’ said Rep. Dave Camp (R, Mich.) shortly after midnight. ‘We’re confident that this can be concluded.’
“Sen. Max Baucus (D, Mont.) said, ‘It’s clear that we’ll have a majority of conferees sign the conference report.’”
Posted by Keith Good • February, 16, 2012 • 4:44 am Budget and the Farm Bill -Pay Roll Tax –Transportation
Daniel Looker reported yesterday at Agriculture.com that, “Farmers would take a big hit in cuts to crop insurance premiums proposed in the Obama Administration’s 2013 USDA budget released Monday. That idea isn’t going over well, either in Congress or among farm groups.
“‘There’s pretty much unanimous agreement among farmers and here in Congress that we need a strong crop insurance program,’ Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee told Agriculture.com Tuesday.
“According to this detailed breakdown of the USDA budget, the federal government would save $3.3 billion over 10 years by cutting subsidies on farmers’ premiums. ‘The proposal would reduce the premium subsidy levels by 2 percentage points for those policies that are currently subsidized by more than 50 percent,’ says page 101 of that appendix to the budget. Currently, USDA subsidizes about 60% of farmers’ premium costs.”
Posted by Keith Good • February, 15, 2012 • 5:15 am Budget: Agriculture, CFTC, EPA, Trade, and Energy; and Pay Roll Tax Issue
Budget Issues: Agriculture- Farm Bill
Lori Montgomery reported in today’s Washington Post that, “President Obama rolled out an election-year budget on Monday that would delay action to reduce the national debt in favor of fresh spending on Democratic priorities aimed at rebuilding the American middle class.
“In his final budget request before facing voters in November, Obama called for $350 billion in new stimulus to maintain lower payroll taxes, bolster domestic manufacturing, lure jobs back from overseas, hire teachers, retrain workers and fix the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. There would be only modest trims to federal health-care programs and no changes to Social Security, the biggest drivers of future borrowing, despite last year’s raucous political debate over the federal debt.”
Posted by Keith Good • February, 14, 2012 • 4:57 am President Obama’s Budget and Agriculture- Payroll Tax- Transportation
Jared A. Favole and Damian Paletta reported in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal that, “President Barack Obama on Monday will propose a multi-trillion-dollar U.S. government budget that seeks to spur job creation and impose higher taxes on the rich to help reduce the deficit, laying down a clear election-year marker of his priorities.”
The Journal article pointed out that, “The budget calls for new spending limits on agriculture subsidies and moving to five-day-a-week postal delivery, among other things.”
Posted by Keith Good • February, 13, 2012 • 5:17 am Budget- Payroll Tax- Transportation
Damian Paletta reported in today’s Wall Street Journal that, “President Barack Obama’s budget proposal Monday will offer several measures to trim the federal deficit in the next 10 years. But it would leave largely unchanged the biggest drivers of future government spending: the Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security programs that are expanding rapidly as the baby boom turns into a senior boom.
“Calling for major changes in the popular programs would be politically treacherous in an election year because of fierce opposition from seniors, who vote in large numbers. But budget experts of both parties agree the programs’ growth must be curbed at some point or they will swamp the budget.”
David Rogers reported last night at Politico that, “The next few weeks will tell a lot as President Barack Obama rolls out his 2013 budget Monday, and, hard on its heels, a House-Senate conference must come up with some answers on the payroll tax holiday — or see it expire Feb. 29.”
Posted by Keith Good • February, 10, 2012 • 5:58 am Budget- Payroll Tax
Erik Wasson reported yesterday at The Hill Online that, “Anxious Republicans plan to use President Obama’s soon-to-be-released budget as a rallying cry to unify their party, which has been fractured over the last couple of months.
“Democrats were largely seen as the political winners of December and January, as the GOP fumbled the payroll-tax issue and Obama’s approval ratings improved.
“February, Republicans believe, will be different. They claim that Obama’s budget will return the nation’s focus to fiscal issues, a traditional GOP stronghold.”
The article added that, “While House Republicans are now crafting their fiscal 2013 budget resolution, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Friday that Democrats in the upper chamber will not try to pass such a measure on the floor.”
Posted by Keith Good • February, 9, 2012 • 5:32 am Budget- Payroll Tax- Transportation Bill- Keystone Pipeline
Humberto Sanchez reported yesterday at Roll Call Online that, “Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) — a key cheerleader of last year’s bipartisan deficit reduction efforts — said this week that he sees little chance of reaching a ‘grand bargain’ in this presidential election year.”
The article pointed out that, “Johanns was a backer of the gang of six Senators who tried last year to craft a bipartisan deficit reduction deal that dealt with spending cuts, entitlement reforms and the tax code. But Senate Democratic and Republican leaders have rebuffed those efforts to freelance on the deficit reduction issue, and as a result, the group’s efforts have been stifled.”
Posted by Keith Good • February, 8, 2012 • 5:43 am Budget- Payroll Tax- Transportation Bill
John Stanton reported today at Roll Call Online that, “Republicans and Democrats alike are hoping to make 2012 a grudge match over the budget, closely tracking the topic that helped drag Congressional approval ratings to record lows last year and despite concerns among political operatives that the public is unmoved by the issue.
“Although little more than a nonbinding resolution — made largely moot by last summer’s Budget Control Act — members of both parties’ leadership see this year’s budget as a prime battleground of the 2012 elections and are ramping up similar messaging machines to those used last year.”
Posted by Keith Good • February, 7, 2012 • 5:12 am Payroll Tax- Budget
Pete Kasperowicz reported on Friday at The Hill’s Floor Action Blog that, “All the partisan rhetoric leading up to the November elections is masking a surprising new trend — bilateral cooperation.”
After noting that two bills passed last week (the STOCK Act in the Senate, and long-term FAA funding in the House), the article indicated that, “The House and Senate have a chance to keep up this small bipartisan streak in the next few weeks, when some agreement will be needed to extend the payroll tax cut holiday. Yes, Republicans still want to pay for that extension with spending cuts, and yes, Democrats still want to pay for it through a tax hike on the wealthy.
“But House Republicans in particular will be looking to avoid the optics of last December, when they pushed unsuccessfully for a tougher extension but lost the public relations battle against Senate Democrats. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Friday that he’s hoping for a deal in an ‘expeditious manner,’ a sign that compromise may still be in the air.”
Posted by Keith Good • February, 6, 2012 • 5:25 am Budget- Payroll Tax- Policy Agenda
Pete Kasperowicz reported yesterday at The Hill’s Floor Action Blog that, “The House on Thursday evening approved the first of up to 10 budget reform bills House Republicans hope to consider on the floor in the coming weeks…The bill requires the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to provide economic analyses of bills with major budgetary impacts — those that have an effect of 0.25 percent of GDP or more, or about $38 billion last year. The analysis would describe the economic impact of the bill, including on GDP, business investment, employment and other economic variables.”
Posted by Keith Good • February, 3, 2012 • 5:14 am Budget: Payroll Tax Cut Extension
Yesterday’s Need-to-Know Daily Email from the National Journal reported that, “The conference committee tasked with bridging the partisan divide over how to extend unemployment insurance and a payroll-tax break convenes today for their second public meeting. Lawmakers have until the end of the month to strike a deal. Also on their agenda is the Medicare ‘doc fix,’ which entails preventing a pay cut for doctors who treat Medicare patients. That task got harder on Tuesday, however, when the Congressional Budget Office said that freezing physicians’ pay at current levels for the coming decade would cost $26 billion more than had been assumed in November.”
Posted by Keith Good • February, 2, 2012 • 4:59 am Budget- Payroll Tax
Jennifer Haberkorn reported yesterday at Politico that, “Democrats are licking their chops over the idea of another Republican budget that attempts to dramatically reform the Medicare program.
“House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has indicated that his budget will address Medicare and could include the revised plan he crafted with Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. Under their plan, seniors would get ‘premium support’ to help them buy private insurance coverage or traditional Medicare.”
The article noted that, “Ryan on ‘Fox News Sunday’ said he hasn’t written the budget yet because the Congressional Budget Office baseline isn’t out, but he added, ‘We’re not going backward; we’re going forward. We’re not backing off of any of our ideas, any of our solutions.’”
Posted by Keith Good • January, 31, 2012 • 5:20 am Budget- Payroll Tax- Appropriations
Pete Kasperowicz reported on Friday at the Hill’s Floor Action Blog that, “The GOP this week couldn’t stop President Obama’s request to raise the debt ceiling by another $1.2 trillion. Next week, House Republicans will counter by advancing bills that they hope will create an incentive to slow deficit spending through changes to the budget process.
“Among other things, the House will take up bills that require a study on how spending bills affect the economy, and remove automatic inflation-related spending increases. Republicans will also be advancing other budget reform bills in committee that are not yet ready for floor action.”
Mr. Kasperowicz added that, “In the background, members of the House and Senate are continuing to work on a compromise for extending the payroll tax holiday, unemployment insurance, and the doc fix beyond the end of February, when they expire.”
Posted by Keith Good • January, 30, 2012 • 5:26 am Budget Issues, Payroll Tax
Felicia Sonmez reported yesterday at the 2chambers Blog (Washington Post) that, “The Senate on Thursday voted against proceeding on a symbolic resolution that would have disapproved of President Obama’s request earlier this month to raise the federal borrowing limit, clearing the way for the $1.2 trillion increase to proceed as expected.”
The update noted that, “Last week, the House approved the disapproval resolution on a largely party-line vote, with most Republicans voting ‘yes’ and most Democrats voting ‘no.’
“Even if the resolution had passed, Obama most likely would have vetoed it, and lawmakers would have faced the hurdle of a two-thirds supermajority in both chambers to override the White House’s decision.”
Posted by Keith Good • January, 27, 2012 • 6:08 am 