Peterson: Big Four to talk tonight, possible conference December 4
November 25, 2013 | 10:45 AM
The four principal negotiators on the farm bill — House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., House Agriculture ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Senate Agriculture ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss. — are scheduled to hold a conference call this evening, Peterson said in a radio interview on Friday.
The Senate will not be in session next week, but all the senators who serve on the conference committee have been put on alert that they should be prepared to return to Washington for a December 4 open conference meeting if the principal negotiators reach agreement, Peterson told KFGO, a North Dakota radio station.
The House will be in session the first and second weeks of December but House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has pledged that the House will leave December 13. The Senate returns December 9 with plans to leave on December 20.
Peterson said the senators had not yet hit “the sweet spot” that would allow the conference report to be written, and that there are still disagreements over the commodity title and food stamps.
The Big Four had reached agreements on Wednesday and Thursday but in each case the agreement unraveled, Peterson said, because staff talked the members out of going along with the agreement. Peterson did not go into details about the agreements or discuss where the dairy title stands.
Peterson noted that the conflict over the commodity title is a conflict between Republicans. The northern Republicans favor the Senate version of the bill, which is based on “shallow loss” payments based on historic acreage while the southern Republicans favor the House bill, which is based on target prices and payments on current plantings up to base acreage.
“Right now it is hard to be optimistic,” Peterson said. “I have been up and down, hour by hour.”
But Peterson also said that “There is no good scenario if we don’t get a bill,” because both passing another extension of the 2008 farm bill or implementing the 1938 and 1949 permanent laws would be difficult.
The Senate will not be in session next week, but all the senators who serve on the conference committee have been put on alert that they should be prepared to return to Washington for a December 4 open conference meeting if the principal negotiators reach agreement, Peterson told KFGO, a North Dakota radio station.
The House will be in session the first and second weeks of December but House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has pledged that the House will leave December 13. The Senate returns December 9 with plans to leave on December 20.
Peterson said the senators had not yet hit “the sweet spot” that would allow the conference report to be written, and that there are still disagreements over the commodity title and food stamps.
The Big Four had reached agreements on Wednesday and Thursday but in each case the agreement unraveled, Peterson said, because staff talked the members out of going along with the agreement. Peterson did not go into details about the agreements or discuss where the dairy title stands.
Peterson noted that the conflict over the commodity title is a conflict between Republicans. The northern Republicans favor the Senate version of the bill, which is based on “shallow loss” payments based on historic acreage while the southern Republicans favor the House bill, which is based on target prices and payments on current plantings up to base acreage.
“Right now it is hard to be optimistic,” Peterson said. “I have been up and down, hour by hour.”
But Peterson also said that “There is no good scenario if we don’t get a bill,” because both passing another extension of the 2008 farm bill or implementing the 1938 and 1949 permanent laws would be difficult.
