Farm bill substitute unlikely to happen
Brownfield Network, October 24, 2007

The Senate Agriculture Committee is still marking up its version of the farm bill as of this writing, and a number of amendments on subjects as diverse as cellulosic ethanol and mandatory country-of-origin labeling have been voted on favorably or accepted without a vote. But the measure that ultimately emerges from the committee process will probably not be wholly different than the draft chairman's mark.

The Senate farm bill will largely keep the current commodity title in place with only minor changes, just as the version the House passed in July did. The Senate version, however, will also offer producers an option to enroll in a revenue-based counter cyclical program. But the Senate farm bill as passed out of committee will face opposition, including opposition from committee members like Indiana Republican Dick Lugar, who lambasted both the House farm bill and the Senate version during opening remarks at Thursday's mark-up.

"The House of Representatives failed this year to pass a bill that reforms our antiquated scheme," Lugar said. "Now it appears this committee will unfortunately follow suit."

Lugar plans to introduce a farm bill alternative on the Senate floor. And the Senate Ag Committee's farm bill faces several other challenges, including an effort to tighten farm program payment limits by Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley and North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan. That’s an effort supported by South Dakota Republican John Thune, who said Thursday the Senate may well pass the Grassley-Dorgan amendment, which would mandate a $250,000 hard cap on farm program payments.

"We have a better opportunity, actually, to get the votes that are necessary to enact payment limits this year than we've ever had before," noted Thune.

But could Lugar’s substitute farm bill have any realistic chance of Senate passage? Thune told Brownfield the plain answer to that question is no.

"Although some of his ideas may have merit," Thune said, "they don't represent, I don't think, a majority view when it comes to the producer community or to members of Congress who are ultimately making the votes on these programs."

Floor debate on the Senate farm bill hasn't yet been scheduled. The 2002 farm bill expired at the end of September, but has since been extended.