Bi-Partisan Remarks from theSenate Agriculture Committee Farm Bill Hearing, Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Committee Ranking Member, Pat Roberts (R., Kans.)- While we’re here to discuss other matters, I’d be remiss if I didn’t comment about the President’s budget announcement this week. I was very disappointed to see yet again, I might add, a proposal that cuts nearly $8 billion out of the crop insurance program. Madame Chairman, this is the number one issue that we have heard about in every hearing we’ve had in regard to what farmers need and what they rely on. This is on top of the $6 billion cut from the previous SRA [Standard Reinsurance Agreement].
Committee Chairwoman, Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.)- But in all of that, we placed at a cornerstone crop insurance. And as Senator Roberts had mentioned, we’ve heard across the country from our field hearings in Michigan to Kansas to people coming in and speaking with us here how critical crop insurance is. So we need you to speak to the President’s proposals and cuts in farm programs and I’m particularly concerned about crop insurance.
Former Secretary of Agriculture, Sen. Mike Johanns (R., Neb.)- I look at the risk management aspect which essentially is crop insurance. And overwhelmingly, producers are telling me — not only from Nebraska but when I visit with producers around the country that they think risk management is really the key issue of the next Farm Bill and they like — by and large, like crop insurance.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.)- I just wanted to echo some of the comments from my colleagues about the concerns on crop insurance.
Sen. John Hoeven (R., N.D.)- I just want to start off with a couple of comments regarding the President’s budget relative to the Farm Bill. First, I want to echo my concern. You’ve heard it from the others here today and that’s crop insurance. Everybody, you know, throughout our state, all the producers are telling us that crop insurance is absolutely the number one priority, number one.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D., Colo.)- Senator Hoeven’s comments on crop insurance, I think we all share his view there…”
Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.)- I would echo what’s been said by most of my colleagues with regard to the number one priority of South Dakotan in the Farm Bill is a strong crop insurance program. By hands down, it’s what the people want to see maintained, it’s the thing that they’re most concerned with and that is that we have a good risk management tool available to them. And that’s not the only priority we have in the next Farm Bill, but that certainly I think is the most important in terms of the people that I represent.
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Posted by Keith Good • February, 22, 2012 • 8:57 am
DTN Ag Policy Editor Chris Clayton reported yesterday (link requires subscription) that, “Despite the economics of crop production and federal spending right now, there is still room for conservation practices and promoting wildlife, USDA’s chief conservationist said.
“Dave White, chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, spoke over the weekend to hunters at the Pheasant Fest convention and expo in Kansas City. White said landowners are trying to balance the various growing demands on their land.
“‘We have agriculture production and we have sustainability and we can have it built in where wildlife is a part of it,’ White said. ‘I don’t think there is one farm or one ranch or one woodlot in the United States of America that doesn’t have room for wildlife.’”
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.
Farm Bill: Legislative Timing, Budget Variables, Safety Net and Crop Insurance Issues
Late last week, Mike Hergert of the Red River Farm Network spoke with Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.) about the 2012 Farm Bill. In part, their discussion focused on regional issues and the safety net, budget concerns, and legislative timing of the Farm Bill- the full interview can be heard here (MP3- 5:33).
Meanwhile, Agri-Pulse Senior Editor Stewart Doan spoke with Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Pat Roberts (R., Kans.) on this week’s Agri-Pulse Open Mic program.
An Agri-Pulse summary of the discussion indicated that, “The top Republican on the Senate Ag Committee bristles at the suggestion that he’s blocking a legislative fix to a court order requiring EPA to regulate aquatic pesticide applications, and he says the Labor Department’s child labor in agriculture proposal should be withdrawn. Speaking the day after the Senate Ag panel’s first farm bill hearing of 2012, Sen. Pat Roberts says he and Chairman Debbie Stabenow are working in a bipartisan fashion to markup a bill ASAP containing a ‘crop insurance-plus’ commodity title that serves the needs of all of U.S. agriculture.”
To listen to the Open Mic interview with Sen. Roberts, just click here.
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.”
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.’”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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Posted by Keith Good • February, 22, 2012 • 8:57 am 