CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS – AGRICULTURE
Updated Aug. 2, 2012 – 6:07 p.m.

House Passes Disaster Aid Bill; Senate Will Not Act on It

By Rachael Bade and Alan K. Ota, CQ Staff

The House on Thursday passed a stand-alone drought relief measure, but Senate Democrats refused to take up the bill before leaving for recess.

By a vote of 223-197, the House passed the $383 million package (HR 6233) that would authorize assistance to ranchers affected by drought, wildfires and other natural disasters that occurred in fiscal 2012.

The measure was originally part of a one-year farm program extension (HR 6228) that GOP leaders wanted to vote on before lawmakers left town for the August recess. But it became clear early in the week that they would not have support from either side for that plan, and they decided to move an aid-only bill instead.

The one-year bill would reauthorize several expired disaster programs to provide assistance to agricultural and livestock producers who are being or have been affected by the drought or other natural disasters, but who are not covered by crop insurance, in fiscal 2012. To offset the estimated $383 million in disaster aid, it would reduce spending on two conservation programs — with the greater level of spending reductions resulting in net deficit reduction of $256 million over 10 years.

But all the bill does is give House members something to talk about when they go home this month. The Senate will not consider the legislation and it is unlikely to become law in its current form.

Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said her chamber would not take up the bill, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Thursday he is “following her lead.”

“I’m not passing a bill that only covers some help for some producers,” Stabenow said.

Instead, she urged the House to pass a five-year farm policy bill that addresses drought assistance in a more comprehensive manner. The Senate passed its version (S 3240) of such legislation June 21.

However, some farm-state senators, including the Agriculture Committee’s ranking Republican, Pat Roberts of Kansas, continued to push for drought assistance.

“Everybody is burning up. Why not pass this bill?” Roberts asked, adding that a number of Democrats had told him they would support doing a disaster aid package.

Led by Montana Democrat Jon Tester, a group of 15 senators sent a letter to President Obama Thursday asking that he create an “Interagency Drought Task Force” immediately to address the needs of farmers, ranchers and others hurt by extreme weather and other disasters this year. The letter was signed by 14 Democrats and one Republican.

One of the tasks the group wanted accomplished was to identify “fiscally responsible recommendations for congressional action to further assist those impacted from drought,” suggesting the senators did not expect to address the issue soon.

Stabenow said party leaders wanted lawmakers to work out a bipartisan deal in August on rival House and Senate reauthorizations of agriculture and nutrition programs (HR 6083, S 3240) before the expiration of the current farm law (PL 110-246) at the end of September.

House Passes Disaster Aid Bill; Senate Will Not Act on It

“We will sit down informally and begin to negotiate a final resolution for September,” Stabenow said. “Formally, or informally, we intend to go forward.”

She also said the House version of drought relief omitted aid for some crop farmers in Michigan and other Midwest states.

“It doesn’t even cover 72 counties out of 83 in Michigan. They have a fruit disaster, and it’s not helped in the bill in the House. I’m not passing a bill that only provides some help for some producers,” Stabenow said.

Senate Democrats will offer a stand-alone “bipartisan comprehensive disaster assistance program” in September, she said, if it is not incorporated in a broader deal on the farm bill.

Democrat Jeff Merkley of Oregon had pushed hard in recent weeks for his own stand-alone package of disaster aid (S 3395), in hopes of getting help to home-state farmers that have suffered damage from wildfires, and said that bill or a similar measure would be at the top of the agenda in September.

“I have pushed on every possible front to get it done before we leave, or right when we get back,” Merkely said. “I’ve been assured I’ll have a lot of support from the leadership to get it done.”

Democrat Tim Johnson of South Dakota, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Development Committee, said he was concerned the delay would prevent farmers from getting timely relief.

“That means we won’t get around to disaster relief for about a month or so,” he said.

The Agriculture Department reported Wednesday that more than half the counties in the United States have been designated disaster areas 2012, mostly because of the drought.

“A drought of epic proportion is gripping a large majority of the nation,” House Agriculture Chairman Frank D. Lucas, R-Okla., said. “The most pressing business before us today is to provide disaster assistance to those producers impacted by drought conditions who are currently exposed.”

But some House members from rural districts said they would have preferred to vote on the House’s full five-year farm bill approved by the Agriculture Committee July 11.

“This bill is a sad substitute for what is really need: a long-term farm policy,” said Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota, the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee.

South Dakota Republican Kristi Noem, who also voted for the legislation, agreed with Peterson saying “the full five-year farm bill is the best way to get a long-term safety net for our livestock producers.”

House Passes Disaster Aid Bill; Senate Will Not Act on It

House GOP leaders have made no move to bring the larger farm authorization to the floor for a vote, though Lucas has implored them to do so for weeks. Asked about the farm bill Thursday, Speaker John A. Boehner told reporters that “the House is pretty well divided” because of proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. The House bill would cut $16.1 billion from that program over 10 years; conservatives want that number to go higher, and Democrats would prefer it to go lower.

“Frankly, I haven’t seen 218 votes in the middle to pass the farm bill,” Boehner said.

Phil Brasher, Ellyn Ferguson, Emily Ethridge and Niels Lesniewski contributed to this story.

First posted Aug. 2, 2012 12:48 p.m.

CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS – AGRICULTUREUpdated Aug. 2, 2012 – 6:07 p.m.

House Passes Disaster Aid Bill; Senate Will Not Act on It

By Rachael Bade and Alan K. Ota, CQ Staff

House Passes Disaster Aid Bill; Senate Will Not Act on It

House Passes Disaster Aid Bill; Senate Will Not Act on It

CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS – AGRICULTURE
Updated Aug. 2, 2012 – 6:07 p.m.