There is a lot of talk in Washington about the stalemate on the Senate Agriculture Committee and the chances that the Senate could just take the House farm bill directly to the Senate floor for debate.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., raised the possibility in late August at a forum in his home state. The Senate would take the House bill straight to the floor then hammer out certain issues either on the floor or in conference later.

"We may come to a situation where we pass a bill in the Senate then go to conference and work out the details there," Conrad said in the forum.

Conrad, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, has been at loggerheads with Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, over spending priorities in the farm bill. Harkin hasn't been able to schedule a meeting to offer a bill for markup.

Lobbyists meeting with Senate staffers are asking the question and there is more talk being generated about going directly to the floor. One lobbyist said Friday such talk is "all the rage at every meeting I go to."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's staff has suggested he is contemplating the idea. The understanding is that if Harkin wants floor time it will have to happen between Oct. 8 (Columbus Day) and Thanksgiving. To get that debate time, Reid wants Harkin to have that farm bill moved out of committee before Oct. 6. If the committee can't get that done, it's possible the House version of the farm bill could go directly to the floor for amendments.

If the bill were to go straight to the floor, Harkin would have the opportunity as committee chairman to be the floor manager, thus giving him a little bit more control on the debate.

It has happened before. In 1995, then-House Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., couldn't get a bill out of committee. Enough Republicans joined Democrats to vote down "Freedom to Farm." Republican leaders, who wanted reform, had a farm bill attached to an omnibus budget reconciliation bill that passed the full House. Differences with the Senate bill were then worked out in conference.

There are some parallels between 1995 and 2007. It was a time of relatively high grain prices. Congress, which had changed hands in the 1994 election, was also dealing with a huge budget deficit and the new congressional leaders, then Republicans, were trying to show the county how fiscally responsible they were. (cue the Twilight Zone music.)