Ag Policy Blog
Sen. Grassley: 'Holding out Hope for Farm Bill Passage'
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters Thursday that he remains hopeful a new five-year farm bill will be passed in Congress ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline although there will be just nine working days once lawmakers return to Washington.
He said he didn't expect to see any extensions as Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid and Senate Ag Chairman Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., have said they would not entertain extension legislation.
"The House doesn't need food stamps in its bill, as it could go to conference with the Senate without it," Grassley said.
"You could come out of committee with a farm bill with food stamps. I'm fairly optimistic we're going to get something done. It may not be by the deadline, but we're going to get a new farm bill soon.
"There is a lot of pressure if there's no extension and we end up with a '49 farm bill. Nobody's going to want to do that."
P[L1] D[0x0] M[300x250] OOP[F] ADUNIT[] T[]
Federal law requires that if a new farm bill or an extension of the current bill isn't passed, to revert back to the 1949 version of the law.
Grassley entertained the idea that the farm bill could be tied to the impending debt ceiling debate this fall.
"The possibilities are very limited because of the House of Representatives doing everything they can to do a clean CR," he said.
"I'm not going to give up on getting an agreement out of conference. We can go to conference with the House passing just the farm bill as long as the Senate has a food stamps bill.
"As a practical matter they're (the conference) going to have to find some compromise between $4 billion (the Senate version) and $20 billion in savings on food stamps."
American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman told a group of farmers last week at Dakotafest in Mitchell, S.D., that talk of an extension should be put on hold.
"We have to keep the heat on Congress to get a five-year farm bill done this year," he said, according to an AFBF news release. "It's premature to even be talking about an extension."
Stallman said a one-year extension would be "a cop-out."
"In addition, policy reforms -– such as a larger role for crop insurance as part of the farm safety net, more equity across crops grown and increased support for fruit and vegetable growers -– that have been proposed in the new legislation are not possible if the current farm bill is extended," an AFBF news release said.
"Further, a new farm bill would help Congress get the nation's fiscal house in order by saving about $20 billion compared to the 2008 law."
Follow me on Twitter @toddneeleyDTN
© Copyright 2013 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.
Comments
To comment, please Log In or Join our Community .