Boehner: Not Enough Farm Bill Votes

House Speaker Boehner (R-OH) announced there are insufficient votes to pass the five-year farm bill (H.R. 6083) reported by the Agriculture Committee on July 12 or for a short-term extension of current law. In a statement to the news media, he said the House will try to take up farm legislation in a Lame Duck session after the elections.

In the absence of action on new legislation or an extension, the current farm bill will expire on Sept. 30.

Advertisement

Boehner repeated a statement he has made several times in past weeks in response to calls for action in the House.

“We have people who believe there is not enough reform in the farm bill that came out of committee and others who believe there is too much in the bill that came out of committee,” he stated. “In our opinion, we need 218 votes to pass either an extension or to consider the entire farm bill. When we get back, we will deal with the issue of the farm bill.”

There would be relatively few short-term negative repercussions if the ’08 law expires on Sept. 30 because the current commodity programs are effective for the ’12 crops, crop insurance and nutrition programs would continue, and most of the conservation programs previously have been extended to ’14. If the law expires on Sept. 30, the specific immediate effects would be that new Conservation Reserve Program enrollments will be suspended and the dairy support program for small operations, known as MILK, will be terminated.

Top Articles
Cotton Companion: Adjusting to New EPA Adjustments

If Congress fails to act prior to Jan. 1, ’13, then there are more dire consequences. The current dairy price support program expires and permanent law is triggered, which is based on parity and would raise the support price to more than $38 per gallon. If there is no action by March, the ’13 winter wheat crop also would be covered by permanent law, which sets the support price at 75% of parity or about $13 per bushel, although not all wheat would be eligible.

The primary question, when Congress returns for the Lame Duck session in November, seems to be whether it will be possible for the House to pass a five-year bill or a one-year extension. If Congress is unable to pass either, then work on new legislation would have to start over in the 113th Congress in January because legislation does not carry over from one Congress to the next. This would be the second time that a farm bill will have expired. The last time was in ’07, when the ’02 law (P.L. 107-171) was expired for three months.

 

Source: National Cotton Council

0