Dueling Senate Farm Bills
Posted: October 25, 2007
The Senate Agriculture Committee finally completed work on its version of the 2007 Farm Bill about midday on Thursday. The bill was reported out of committee on a voice vote, despite the fact that one of the committee members intends to introduce his own version of a farm bill on the Senate floor.
Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) criticized the House and Senate for failing to make significant reforms to farm policy. “These policies will increase market distorting subsidies, set up retaliation against all of our farm exports because it perpetuates a cotton program that repeatedly has been found to violate world trading rules.”
This week, Lugar introduced his Farm, Ranch, Equity, Stewardship and Health (FRESH) Act with co-sponsor Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) as an alternative to the bill passed out of the Senate Ag Committee, although it is unlikely to go anywhere. According to Lugar, his bill “would end depression era federal crops subsidies that benefit only a few farmers, of a few crops, in a few states. The new safety net would be an insurance program available to all American farmers.”
The Senate Ag Committee’s version of the farm bill largely keeps the current commodity title in place with only minor changes but will also offer producers an option to enroll in a revenue-based counter cyclical program.
Senate floor debate on the farm bill has yet to be scheduled.