Peterson discusses conference details in radio interview
November 01, 2013 | 05:14 PM
House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., said in a radio interview today that he hopes the four agriculture committee leaders will negotiate next week, that the Senate won’t accept more than $9 billion in food stamp cuts. and that the farm bill has to have conservation compliance linked to crop insurance.
Peterson made the statements on the radio program Agritalk and also said that he had been to the White House on Thursday to discuss the farm bill. He did say who else attended the meeting, but a knowledgeable House aide said that Peterson, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack met with senior White House staff.
The House is out next week but the Senate is in session. Peterson said he was going to ask Lucas to return to Washington next week for negotiations so that he, Lucas, Stabenow and Senate Agriculture ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., can work out the big issues.
“We have done all the staff work,” Peterson said, adding that the tradeoffs that are left can only be done by the members. “We need to have this thing wrapped up before Thanksgiving,” he said.
Peterson said it will be a delicate matter to determine “the sweet spot” of what can pass the House and the Senate and that the bill could still be derailed by “poison pill demands” from the House leadership.
He said he is sure House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, wants to get the bill done, but that he does not know if House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., is determined to finish it. The final bill would have to depend on Democratic votes much the same way that the bill to reopen and fund the government and lift the debt ceiling depended on Democrats to pass, Peterson said.
On the size of the cut in the food stamp program, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Peterson said Stabenow has told him she cannot go to “double digits,” which means $9 billion is the upper limit.
If members think of the $11 billion cut over three years that goes into effect today as the Recovery Act stimulus expired, that would total $20 billion, the amount that the House Agriculture Committee approved but that the House rejected as too low.
Peterson said it would be difficult to get House Democrats to accept a $9 billion cut but that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has agreed to help him round up votes.
Peterson also said he believes the bill will include require conservation compliance for crop insurance because it passed the Senate by a wide margin. but that the measure will not require crop insurers to enforce the requirement. He also said the conferees will have big battles over payment limitations and the commodity title.
On dairy policy, Peterson said the conference committee will put forward the Dairy Security Act that was in the bill the House Agriculture Committee passed, but that was amended on the House floor at Boehner’s urging with a measure sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.
Peterson said it is his job to tell Boehner the original bill will be in the conference report. He said he will make the case that the Dairy Security Act should be passed because it will only be law for five years and then will become an insurance program run by the Agriculture Department’s Risk Management Agency. At that point, premiums will go up, Peterson said, but he believes dairy farmers will participate in it because they will understand its value.
Peterson said he will not accept the Goodlatte dairy amendment because it would put the government on the hook for millions of dollars, but that if Boehner will not accept the Dairy Security Act, the alternative will be current law including the Milk Income Loss Contract program from the 2008 farm bill with rates in the 2008 bill.
Peterson also noted that Congress has to act because at the end of the year permanent law would go into effect, which would mean an increase in milk prices, just as it would have last year if Congress had not extended the 2008 bill for another year.
Peterson made the statements on the radio program Agritalk and also said that he had been to the White House on Thursday to discuss the farm bill. He did say who else attended the meeting, but a knowledgeable House aide said that Peterson, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack met with senior White House staff.
The House is out next week but the Senate is in session. Peterson said he was going to ask Lucas to return to Washington next week for negotiations so that he, Lucas, Stabenow and Senate Agriculture ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., can work out the big issues.
“We have done all the staff work,” Peterson said, adding that the tradeoffs that are left can only be done by the members. “We need to have this thing wrapped up before Thanksgiving,” he said.
Peterson said it will be a delicate matter to determine “the sweet spot” of what can pass the House and the Senate and that the bill could still be derailed by “poison pill demands” from the House leadership.
He said he is sure House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, wants to get the bill done, but that he does not know if House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., is determined to finish it. The final bill would have to depend on Democratic votes much the same way that the bill to reopen and fund the government and lift the debt ceiling depended on Democrats to pass, Peterson said.
On the size of the cut in the food stamp program, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Peterson said Stabenow has told him she cannot go to “double digits,” which means $9 billion is the upper limit.
If members think of the $11 billion cut over three years that goes into effect today as the Recovery Act stimulus expired, that would total $20 billion, the amount that the House Agriculture Committee approved but that the House rejected as too low.
Peterson said it would be difficult to get House Democrats to accept a $9 billion cut but that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has agreed to help him round up votes.
Peterson also said he believes the bill will include require conservation compliance for crop insurance because it passed the Senate by a wide margin. but that the measure will not require crop insurers to enforce the requirement. He also said the conferees will have big battles over payment limitations and the commodity title.
On dairy policy, Peterson said the conference committee will put forward the Dairy Security Act that was in the bill the House Agriculture Committee passed, but that was amended on the House floor at Boehner’s urging with a measure sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.
Peterson said it is his job to tell Boehner the original bill will be in the conference report. He said he will make the case that the Dairy Security Act should be passed because it will only be law for five years and then will become an insurance program run by the Agriculture Department’s Risk Management Agency. At that point, premiums will go up, Peterson said, but he believes dairy farmers will participate in it because they will understand its value.
Peterson said he will not accept the Goodlatte dairy amendment because it would put the government on the hook for millions of dollars, but that if Boehner will not accept the Dairy Security Act, the alternative will be current law including the Milk Income Loss Contract program from the 2008 farm bill with rates in the 2008 bill.
Peterson also noted that Congress has to act because at the end of the year permanent law would go into effect, which would mean an increase in milk prices, just as it would have last year if Congress had not extended the 2008 bill for another year.
