Vilsack: USDA working on implementing permanent law, comments on farm bill provisions
December 03, 2013 | 03:12 PM
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said today that USDA personnel are already working on the implementation of the 1938 and 1949 permanent farm laws, although he hopes that Congress finishes a new farm bill and he does not have to implement them.
“We will be prepared if and when Congress fails to act,” Vilsack said in a call to reporters on conservation. (See following story) “We will do it in an expeditious way.”
“Our focus now is on getting the bill done,” he said, but noted that if Congress proves it is “not capable” of passing a farm bill or an extension, “We will do what we have to do. The law requires us to be prepared.”
Asked whether consumers will be affected by higher milk prices if Congress fails to pass a farm bill by the end of the calendar year, but passes one by January 15, the date the current congressional resolution funding the government expires, Vilsack said he would not provide a timeline on implementation.
Asked if he is worried that a commodity title with payments based on current planted acres rather than historic base would trigger a World Trade Organization complaint, Vilsack said his biggest WTO concern is that failure to pass a bill would trigger trade retaliation from Brazil over the cotton case that the United States lost to Brazil.
But he added that farm bill conferees need to “find a compromise that allows them to respond to the needs of all different types of commodities.”
Noting that the issue of a farm program working for all crops is “historical,” Vilsack said, “There needs to be balance” for all crops and “sensitivity” to the fact that “we are engaged in global economic activity.”
Picking up on a phrase used by House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., Vilsack said, “I am confident they are going to find the sweet spot in all of this.”
He added that he wants a farm bill quickly because the uncertainty of not having a farm bill is having an impact in rural America and that farmers are holding back on plans or buying implements the way they normally would.
Asked whether the congressional leadership and President Barack Obama should take over the farm bill to get it done, Vilsack said he had confidence in the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Agriculture committees to get their work done. He said that when the bill is finished “the president will be anxious to sign it.”
“We will be prepared if and when Congress fails to act,” Vilsack said in a call to reporters on conservation. (See following story) “We will do it in an expeditious way.”
“Our focus now is on getting the bill done,” he said, but noted that if Congress proves it is “not capable” of passing a farm bill or an extension, “We will do what we have to do. The law requires us to be prepared.”
Asked whether consumers will be affected by higher milk prices if Congress fails to pass a farm bill by the end of the calendar year, but passes one by January 15, the date the current congressional resolution funding the government expires, Vilsack said he would not provide a timeline on implementation.
Asked if he is worried that a commodity title with payments based on current planted acres rather than historic base would trigger a World Trade Organization complaint, Vilsack said his biggest WTO concern is that failure to pass a bill would trigger trade retaliation from Brazil over the cotton case that the United States lost to Brazil.
But he added that farm bill conferees need to “find a compromise that allows them to respond to the needs of all different types of commodities.”
Noting that the issue of a farm program working for all crops is “historical,” Vilsack said, “There needs to be balance” for all crops and “sensitivity” to the fact that “we are engaged in global economic activity.”
Picking up on a phrase used by House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., Vilsack said, “I am confident they are going to find the sweet spot in all of this.”
He added that he wants a farm bill quickly because the uncertainty of not having a farm bill is having an impact in rural America and that farmers are holding back on plans or buying implements the way they normally would.
Asked whether the congressional leadership and President Barack Obama should take over the farm bill to get it done, Vilsack said he had confidence in the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Agriculture committees to get their work done. He said that when the bill is finished “the president will be anxious to sign it.”
