Lucas: Consensus even tougher than he expected
November 25, 2013 | 10:45 AM
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said Friday that reaching agreement on the farm bill is harder than even he thought it would be, but that he and the other principal negotiators are continuing to consult with each other and others and that an extension is unlikely.
“I’m afraid, Ron, it’s proven to be even tougher than I expected,” Lucas told Ron Hays of the Oklahoma Farm Report, a radio program.
The big problems, he said, are dairy, the commodity title and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP or food stamps, but he emphasized that for him the commodity title is key.
The House eliminated the supply management portion of the dairy title, but Lucas noted, “if you don’t have supply management, can you restrain the cost in the rest of the proposal? Probably not. And if you can’t do that, then what’s it going to cost to maintain the present program that generally no one’s satisfied with? Probably, using a ten-year number, about a billion dollars, a billion two, billion four maybe, somewhere in that range.”
On the commodity title, he said, the questions are whether there will be a single program that is “all inclusive” for all regions or a choice and what acres will be allowed to participate in the program — historic base, planted acres or planted up to base acreage.
“There’s still lots of work being done by the economists and the attorneys on that,” he said.
If base acreage is used, he added, when payments are made they could go to “people who don’t have a crop in the ground. We got into a lot of trouble over direct payments on that very issue.”
But he also noted that, with planted acres, the program could “run afoul” of the World Trade Organization rules that say farm programs should not encourage the planting of one crop over another or over production.
“If you use planted up to base then you are not quite decoupled and you’re just not quite anything,” Lucas said.
Issues in the miscellaneous title — including country-of-origin labeling, changes to the Packers and Stockyards Act and the amendment sponsored by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, to stop states from banning food produced in another state due to objections over production methods — will probably have to be settled in an open session, he said.
Although Congress is out of session for Thanksgiving week, he noted, “The loyal staff is working on instructions provided in our last meeting, and I’m spending more time on the phone than most people would believe, and I suspect all three of my colleagues are.”
The opposition of Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., to an extension probably means, “we’re not going to get an extension, and we just have to get our work done. But that’s fine. We need to get our work done,” Lucas concluded.
“I’m afraid, Ron, it’s proven to be even tougher than I expected,” Lucas told Ron Hays of the Oklahoma Farm Report, a radio program.
The big problems, he said, are dairy, the commodity title and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP or food stamps, but he emphasized that for him the commodity title is key.
The House eliminated the supply management portion of the dairy title, but Lucas noted, “if you don’t have supply management, can you restrain the cost in the rest of the proposal? Probably not. And if you can’t do that, then what’s it going to cost to maintain the present program that generally no one’s satisfied with? Probably, using a ten-year number, about a billion dollars, a billion two, billion four maybe, somewhere in that range.”
On the commodity title, he said, the questions are whether there will be a single program that is “all inclusive” for all regions or a choice and what acres will be allowed to participate in the program — historic base, planted acres or planted up to base acreage.
“There’s still lots of work being done by the economists and the attorneys on that,” he said.
If base acreage is used, he added, when payments are made they could go to “people who don’t have a crop in the ground. We got into a lot of trouble over direct payments on that very issue.”
But he also noted that, with planted acres, the program could “run afoul” of the World Trade Organization rules that say farm programs should not encourage the planting of one crop over another or over production.
“If you use planted up to base then you are not quite decoupled and you’re just not quite anything,” Lucas said.
Issues in the miscellaneous title — including country-of-origin labeling, changes to the Packers and Stockyards Act and the amendment sponsored by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, to stop states from banning food produced in another state due to objections over production methods — will probably have to be settled in an open session, he said.
Although Congress is out of session for Thanksgiving week, he noted, “The loyal staff is working on instructions provided in our last meeting, and I’m spending more time on the phone than most people would believe, and I suspect all three of my colleagues are.”
The opposition of Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., to an extension probably means, “we’re not going to get an extension, and we just have to get our work done. But that’s fine. We need to get our work done,” Lucas concluded.
