House vote signals tough farm bill battles ahead
January 02, 2013 | 03:45 PM
By JERRY HAGSTROM
The House of Representatives vote to pass the fiscal cliff bill that also extended most of the 2008 farm bill until September 30 signals a tough fight ahead for a farm bill in 2013.
The House voted 257 to 167 Tuesday night in favor of the bill that had passed the Senate earlier that morning by a vote of 89 to 8.
But the voting pattern within the House shows that the divisions within the Republican party are likely to continue, making it difficult to get any controversial legislation through the House. While the House is controlled by the Republicans, only 85 Republicans joined 172 Democrats to vote for the measure. Voting no were 151 Republicans and 16 Democrats.
The House Republican leadership was obviously very dependent on Democratic votes to pass the fiscal cliff bill in which the farm bill extension was a minor factor, but whether House Democrats would vote for a farm bill that includes a big cut to food stamps is an open question.
Conservative Republicans remain determined to make a big cut in food stamps while anti-hunger advocates and many Democrats are willing to accept only a small cut, if any, in the nation's biggest anti-hunger program. With automatic spending cuts known as the sequester postponed for only two months and the government already having gone over its debt limit, that could mean pressure to try to finish a new farm bill in the next two months.
Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn.
The 16 Democrats who voted against the fiscal cliff-farm bill extension measure included House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn.
Peterson told Politico he was upset with the White House agreement to the extension without new dairy legislation.
“ ‘Upset’ is an understatement,” Peterson told Politico. “I’m not going to talk with those guys. I’m done with them for the next four years.”
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., had fought for the dairy stabilization measure that Peterson had written and that the House Agriculture Committee and the Senate approved.
But after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, declined to include it, Lucas voted for the bill and said that the extension of current dairy policy was “the best way” to avoid an increase in dairy prices, Politico reported.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., meanwhile, tweeted that he had insisted on adding a feed cost adjuster formula to the dairy provision, and that without it the Milk Income Loss Contract program extension "would have been an empty promise to farmers who need help.”
That provision did not, however, stop the National Milk Producers Federation from sending out a news release that Congress had sent dairy farmers over the “dairy cliff."
Connie Tipton
The International Dairy Foods Association, which opposed the dairy provision, was the single agriculture group to congratulate Congress and the administration today on the bill without expressing disappointment that the farm bill was not finished.
“The International Dairy Foods Association congratulates Congress and President Obama for reaching an agreement on how to address the important ‘fiscal cliff’ legislation,” IDFA President and CEO Connie Tipton said in a news release.
“We appreciate that the bill includes provisions that will avoid the resurrection of dairy policies from more than 50 years ago,” Tipton said. “This agreement allows Congress time to fully and openly consider future reforms to our nation's dairy policies.”
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has not commented on the fiscal cliff bill or what impact the farm bill extension will have on management of the Agriculture Department through September 30. The bill extended most farm bill programs, but not all.
Drag Edit
Delete Text
American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 — Amended by Senate, Approved by House
Politico: Fiscal cliff deal includes farm bill extension
The House of Representatives vote to pass the fiscal cliff bill that also extended most of the 2008 farm bill until September 30 signals a tough fight ahead for a farm bill in 2013.
The House voted 257 to 167 Tuesday night in favor of the bill that had passed the Senate earlier that morning by a vote of 89 to 8.
But the voting pattern within the House shows that the divisions within the Republican party are likely to continue, making it difficult to get any controversial legislation through the House. While the House is controlled by the Republicans, only 85 Republicans joined 172 Democrats to vote for the measure. Voting no were 151 Republicans and 16 Democrats.
The House Republican leadership was obviously very dependent on Democratic votes to pass the fiscal cliff bill in which the farm bill extension was a minor factor, but whether House Democrats would vote for a farm bill that includes a big cut to food stamps is an open question.
Conservative Republicans remain determined to make a big cut in food stamps while anti-hunger advocates and many Democrats are willing to accept only a small cut, if any, in the nation's biggest anti-hunger program. With automatic spending cuts known as the sequester postponed for only two months and the government already having gone over its debt limit, that could mean pressure to try to finish a new farm bill in the next two months.
Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn.
The 16 Democrats who voted against the fiscal cliff-farm bill extension measure included House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn.
Peterson told Politico he was upset with the White House agreement to the extension without new dairy legislation.
“ ‘Upset’ is an understatement,” Peterson told Politico. “I’m not going to talk with those guys. I’m done with them for the next four years.”
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., had fought for the dairy stabilization measure that Peterson had written and that the House Agriculture Committee and the Senate approved.
But after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, declined to include it, Lucas voted for the bill and said that the extension of current dairy policy was “the best way” to avoid an increase in dairy prices, Politico reported.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., meanwhile, tweeted that he had insisted on adding a feed cost adjuster formula to the dairy provision, and that without it the Milk Income Loss Contract program extension "would have been an empty promise to farmers who need help.”
That provision did not, however, stop the National Milk Producers Federation from sending out a news release that Congress had sent dairy farmers over the “dairy cliff."
Connie Tipton
The International Dairy Foods Association, which opposed the dairy provision, was the single agriculture group to congratulate Congress and the administration today on the bill without expressing disappointment that the farm bill was not finished.
“The International Dairy Foods Association congratulates Congress and President Obama for reaching an agreement on how to address the important ‘fiscal cliff’ legislation,” IDFA President and CEO Connie Tipton said in a news release.
“We appreciate that the bill includes provisions that will avoid the resurrection of dairy policies from more than 50 years ago,” Tipton said. “This agreement allows Congress time to fully and openly consider future reforms to our nation's dairy policies.”
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has not commented on the fiscal cliff bill or what impact the farm bill extension will have on management of the Agriculture Department through September 30. The bill extended most farm bill programs, but not all.
Drag Edit
Delete Text
American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 — Amended by Senate, Approved by House
Politico: Fiscal cliff deal includes farm bill extension
