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The House, Senate and Bush administration are inching toward agreement
on a price tag for the farm bill, with all sides optimistic they might
break the stalemate by early next week.
While lawmakers did not set a spending number after another
late-night meeting yesterday, some senators said it could be twice as
much extra spending for the bill as House lawmakers had proposed
earlier this week.
Leaders of the Senate Agriculture and
Finance committees plan to send the leaders of the House Agriculture
Committee their proposal for a funding framework by the end of the day
today, with the hopes that the two chambers can agree on a total price
tag by early next week. The progress on negotiations came last night
after a meeting of the top Democrats and Republicans from the House and
Senate committees, Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer and other USDA
officials.
"We have a process, and I think we'll be able
to resolve this," House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson
(D-Minn.) told reporters after the meeting.
The five-year
farm bill -- which would oversee farmland conservation, energy and crop
support programs -- has been at a standstill for the past two months.
The House and Senate passed farm bills last year that would give
significant increases to conservation and energy, but lawmakers have
been trying to trim down the proposal to comply with the demands of the
Bush administration, which has threatened to veto the bill if it costs
too much.
In an effort to break the impasse, Peterson and
ranking member Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) floated a new framework for the
farm bill earlier this week that would cut some agriculture subsidies
and conservation and energy payments. Their outline for the bill would
cut more than half of the total increases the House approved in its
farm bill reauthorization last summer. The proposal would come in at
$6.1 billion over the current baseline over 10 years, compared to the
$14 billion increase that was in the House bill.
Senators
balked at the cuts, but all parties said last night they are working on
a new agreement. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin
(D-Iowa) said that they are "way beyond" the $6.1 billion. Harkin
listed increased funding for conservation among his priorities for the
bill.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad
(D-N.D.) said the number would likely be closer to the $12.5 billion
farm groups have said would be necessary. The National Farmers Union,
American Farm Bureau and dozens of other farm groups said in a letter
sent to lawmakers yesterday that anything less than $12.5 billion would
place an "unfair burden" on farmers.
"I think that is
right on. That is very close to the number we've been talking about,"
Conrad said. He added that the White House might not agree to that sum
and said there is still "a lot of work to be done."
But
Schafer and USDA Deputy Secretary Chuck Conner, who have been holding
the Bush administration's line in the negotiations, were upbeat after
yesterday's meeting.
"I think we are going in the right direction," Schafer said.
Conner added: "We have made significant progress."
Senators
have floated the idea of moving forward with a bill that has
congressional support, regardless of the administration's position --
forcing Bush to play his hand on the veto. But Peterson said that House
negotiators would not sign onto a farm bill that still has a veto
threat. The House would likely not be able to override a veto on the
farm bill.
While all parties were more optimistic last
night than they have been in recent weeks, Harkin and Conrad said there
is still much to be done before reaching final agreement. Conrad said
they have not decided on the funding mechanisms for the offsets.
Peterson
said he plans to agree to a final number by Monday, but Harkin told
reporters he thought that might be overly optimistic.
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