House Obstacle Course For Farm Bill

Now that the U.S. Senate has passed its version of the 2012 U.S. Farm Bill the House of Representatives and its leadership has been put on the hot seat.

Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, issued the following statement after the Senate passed their version: “Although there will be differences between the Senate approach and our own, I hope my colleagues are encouraged by (the Senate’s) success when we meet to consider our own legislation.”

The House Agriculture Committee will consider a balanced proposal that saves taxpayers billions of dollars, recognizes the diversity of American agriculture, respects the risks producers face, and preserves the tools necessary for food production, according to Lucas.

While the House Ag Committee will mark up their bill beginning July 11, it is far from clear when the bill will come to the full House for action. Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) has been quoted as wanting to “push the pause button” on the farm bill which is not on the summer schedule of the House.

All the comments so far indicate that the House bill will include a counter-cyclical payment option and will cut food and nutrition programs by much more than was the case in the Senate bill. Food nutrition programs could easily derail any progress on a new farm bill this year.

CNN-Money reports that while more than one in seven Americans are on food stamps, the federal government wants even more people to sign up for the program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been running radio ads for the past four months encouraging those eligible to enroll.

The department is spending between $2.5 million and $3 million on paid spots, and free public service announcements are also airing. The campaign can be heard in California, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, and the New York metro area, according to CNN-Money.

The ads are not going unnoticed by those looking to reduce government spending. In fiscal 2011, the federal government spent more than $75 billion on food stamps, up from $34.6 billion at the end of fiscal 2008, according to the USDA. “We ought to be looking for ways to save money in the program, not to encourage more people to use it,” said Chris Edwards, an economist with the Cato Institute, a libertarian organization.

A recent headline in the Washington Times “Top Secret: $80B a Year for Food Stamps, but Feds Won’t Reveal What’s Purchased”, has sparked renewed interest in the food program and its many faults. The story was picked up by many local media outlets and is sure to drive higher the amount of cuts demanded by some House members, in exchange for their support of the total bill. The deeper the cuts in food and nutrition programs approved by the House, the less likely we are to see a compromise with the senate this election year.