Congress Returns to the Farm Bill and a Full Legislative Plate

In July, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the Farm Bill; now it's the Senate's turn. Action could begin this month, but most in the agriculture community now predict that no significant movement will take place on the bill in the Senate until October or later.

Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee (D-IA), got the ball rolling late last week by releasing his take on farm bill provisions related to the commodity title. In the area of dairy policy, he supports some of the provisions of the House-passed bill, including extension of the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program, changes to the Dairy Price Support Program passed by the House, and reauthorization of the Dairy Forward Contracting Program.

"IDFA is very pleased that forward contracting is included in the Senate bill on a six-year basis, although we believe the program should be permanent. We also applaud the move to establish a commission on Federal Order reform," said IDFA President and CEO Connie Tipton. "We were disappointed to see that Senator Harkin's proposal contains provisions like full implementation of the dairy import assessment and continuation of the Dairy Price Support Program with no visible mechanism to control government stockpiles. These seem to fall short of the small but important gains made in the House-passed bill.

"We know it's early in the Senate dialogue," she added, "and we look forward to working with Chairman Harkin and other members of the Senate to make improvements in the Senate bill as it moves forward."

There will be much to consider in the Senate bill. Because resources are scarce to fund all of the senators' pet projects, Senator Harkin may face some opposition to this early draft from Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), Chairman of the Budget Committee, and the ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA).

"The trick will be to get a bill that not only can garner a majority of votes in the committee, but also get 60 votes on the Senate floor — a tall order," says IDFA Vice President for Political & Legislative Affairs Kristin Wilcox.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), a senior member of the Agriculture Committee, is expected to have a large influence over the entire bill and especially the contents of the Dairy Title. He is an ardent supporter of the MILC program, and is expected to fight for its full funding — perhaps even at a higher level than what is included in the House version.

The dairy industry came to broad agreement on the House-passed bill. Many members of the Senate Agriculture Committee will be looking to avoid a divisive dairy fight and will likely support adopting similar provisions.

"IDFA was pleased that many of our important dairy initiatives were included in the House-passed bill, like the re-establishment of the forward contracting program and the creation of an industry commission to examine the Federal Milk Marketing Orders. We hope that these critical steps forward will be preserved in the Senate bill and the final package," said Tipton. "It is important right now for our member companies to contact their senators and urge support of these provisions."

IDFA members are urged to contact their senators with their Farm Bill concerns through IDFA's political programs website at www.dairycounts.org.

"Constituents can play a big role in the drafting of the Farm Bill, as members of Congress are constantly relying on communications from back home so they can craft the best agriculture policy for their home state producers and processors," said Wilcox. "We are constantly updating the Dairy Counts website to reflect the latest Farm Bill developments and we hope members will take advantage of how quick and easy it is to communicate with Congress through our website."

For more information on the September congressional agenda or for more information on Dairy Counts, please contact Ashley Ruch at (202) 220-3534 or aruch@idfa.org.

Posted September 4, 2007