The Senate passed appropriations funding for agricultural programs on Tuesday and once again the National Animal Identification System took a financial hit.

Sens. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., stripped away half the funding from the program, cutting it from $14.6 million to $7.3 million. The House version opts to just eliminate the funding altogether.

Tester and Enzi declared victory in the move. Tester stated that animal ID "is an expensive mess that doesn't work, and it's time to take the wind out of the sails."

Enzi stated, "The Animal ID program should remain strictly voluntary. Rural America doesn't need another federal program reaching into their lives with burdensome and costly hoops to jump through."

And thus, with those two statements, Tester and Enzi reflect the merry-go-round that is the NAIS program. Tester called it a mess and Enzi declared it needs to remain voluntary. The program is a mess specifically because it is strictly voluntary. If Tester and Enzi are so committed to cleaning it up, then why not kill all the funding for the program? Instead, the Senate is willing to continue spending $7.3 million on the program that isn't working.

So if anyone wonders why animal ID is so screwed up, it's partially because USDA gets no definitive direction from Congress on just what should happen with the program. Some members in the House and Senate want a national, mandatory program. Others say no way. So now, USDA gets potentially half the money to keep the program on some sort of life support.

What happens when that F-5 tornado hits the animal disease center in Kansas and causes a huge animal tracking nightmare? (Sorry, I'm a native Missourian. Just couldn't resist that one.)

The Senate Appropriations bill also included $350 million to lift price supports for dairy producers by about $1.50 per hundredweight. That came despite some leveled criticism by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who said it is time for dairy farmers to sink or swim.

"If farmers haven't figured out how to make a profit from milk, Mr. McCain said, they might want to look for another way to make a living, considering Congress has directed $3.8 million at the effort over the past decade," reported the Watertown, Conn., Daily Times regarding McCain's statements on the Senate floor on the Ag approps bill.

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/…

The Senate also passed a measure allowing chicken imports from China, which have been banned since 2004. The provision would demand greater inspections from USDA. This will be fascinating to watch when some totally off-the-wall element is found again in chicken imports and every senator expresses moral outrage.

Associated Press also reported the Ag approps bill has 396 earmarks worth $221 million.

I can be found on Twitter at chrisclaytonDTN.