Common
01-18-2014, 08:33 AM
This article is long but quite enlightening. I agree with Boehner on one point which I will highlight in bold and I agree with a democrat in another point I will highlight in bold, overall I think the entire automatic reset of this farm bill is garbage, it should be tossed out and rewritten. Its the same bill written in 1949 and its one of a group of bills called "PERMANENT LAW" that is just re signed every 5 yrs. Like the permanent law that just gives our money away to big oil.
Some highlights:
Pressure is mounting on lawmakers working on a farm bill to come up with a deal before the end of the month, when the Agriculture Department is to begin enforcing a series of decades-old laws that could cause the price of milk and other agricultural products to double.
In the nearly two-year effort to pass the $1 trillion bill, lawmakers have been able to reach a compromise on most of the farm and nutrition programs it covers, including what was expected to be the most contentious issue: cuts to the food stamp program.
I agree with Boehner on this:
A deal was reached to cut about $9 billion from the program over 10 years, but was held up when Speaker John A. Boehner (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/us/politics/farm-bill-talks-hit-snag-on-dairy-and-catfish-programs.html) objected to a measure to help dairy farmers by limiting milk production to stabilize prices.
Mr. Boehner called it a “Soviet-style” program that would interfere with the dairy market. He had the provision taken out of a House farm bill that passed last year and said he would not allow it to be part of a final bill in the House.
Progress has also been stalled by disagreements over a catfish inspection program (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/us/politics/second-catfish-inspection-program-by-us-complicates-pacific-trade-pact.html) at the Agriculture Department and over payment limits to farmers who receive subsidies. But it is the dairy provision that has brought talks to a standstill, people familiar with the negotiations said.
The 1949 legislation is known as “permanent law” because all subsequent farms bills simply amend it every five years. The last farm bill was passed in 2008.
I agree with Dem Sen Stabenow and Harry Reid on this:
Before members of Congress left for the holidays, the House passed an extension that would have kept farm and nutrition programs going through the end of January. But the Senate rejected it. Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan and chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said they objected to the extension because it would continue a $5 billion subsidy program called direct payments, which go to farmers and farmland owners whether they grow crops or not. The new farm bill would eliminate direct payments.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/us/politics/standstill-on-farm-bill-may-revive-1949-rules.html?ref=politics
Some highlights:
Pressure is mounting on lawmakers working on a farm bill to come up with a deal before the end of the month, when the Agriculture Department is to begin enforcing a series of decades-old laws that could cause the price of milk and other agricultural products to double.
In the nearly two-year effort to pass the $1 trillion bill, lawmakers have been able to reach a compromise on most of the farm and nutrition programs it covers, including what was expected to be the most contentious issue: cuts to the food stamp program.
I agree with Boehner on this:
A deal was reached to cut about $9 billion from the program over 10 years, but was held up when Speaker John A. Boehner (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/us/politics/farm-bill-talks-hit-snag-on-dairy-and-catfish-programs.html) objected to a measure to help dairy farmers by limiting milk production to stabilize prices.
Mr. Boehner called it a “Soviet-style” program that would interfere with the dairy market. He had the provision taken out of a House farm bill that passed last year and said he would not allow it to be part of a final bill in the House.
Progress has also been stalled by disagreements over a catfish inspection program (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/14/us/politics/second-catfish-inspection-program-by-us-complicates-pacific-trade-pact.html) at the Agriculture Department and over payment limits to farmers who receive subsidies. But it is the dairy provision that has brought talks to a standstill, people familiar with the negotiations said.
The 1949 legislation is known as “permanent law” because all subsequent farms bills simply amend it every five years. The last farm bill was passed in 2008.
I agree with Dem Sen Stabenow and Harry Reid on this:
Before members of Congress left for the holidays, the House passed an extension that would have kept farm and nutrition programs going through the end of January. But the Senate rejected it. Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan and chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said they objected to the extension because it would continue a $5 billion subsidy program called direct payments, which go to farmers and farmland owners whether they grow crops or not. The new farm bill would eliminate direct payments.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/us/politics/standstill-on-farm-bill-may-revive-1949-rules.html?ref=politics