| Democrat leaders in the U.S. Senate are pushing for a vote this week on
a new farm bill.
North Dakota has a lot riding on this issue, said Sen. Byron
Dorgan, D-N.D. Were trying very hard to get this farm bill finished
before this Congress leaves town.
Some members of Congress believe if a new farm bill isnt passed this
year, about $73.5 million set aside to help fund agriculture will be spent
elsewhere.
The Senate will likely complete its 2001 session by Christmas, Dorgan
said.
This week, Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., will file a motion
that, if approved, will require his colleagues to consider the Senates
farm bill before adjourning, Daschle spokesman Jay Carson said.
That would eliminate a hurdle so we could immediately vote on the
Senate floor, Dorgan said.
He said there is enough support in the Senate to pass the bill. If
approved this week, the farm policy proposal would be forwarded to a
Senate-House conference committee then reach the presidents desk before
Christmas.
The Senate Agriculture Committee passed a farm bill Nov. 15 that would
cost $170 billion over 10 years the same amount proposed in the House
bill.
The Senate bill offers a 70 percent increase in farm support over the
current farm policy, called Freedom to Farm, but 26 percent less than the
combined support of Freedom to Farm and the ad hoc disaster payments sent
to farmers in each of the past four years, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., has
said.
For North Dakota farmers, the Senate bill would provide about $430
million more in additional price support payments in the coming year,
Dorgan said.
Under Freedom to Farm, producers have received declining price support
payments every year since the bill was passed in 1996. Freedom to Farm,
which expires in September, was designed to wean farmers off government
subsidies and rely more on the market. However, large price drops and
natural disasters, have prompted Congress to pass supplemental assistance
packages for the last four years.
The Senate bill isnt perfect, but a vast improvement over Freedom to
Farm, Dorgan said.
Dorgan said he may offer amendments to the Senate bill that would raise
price support levels for wheat and feed-grain farmers and better target
payments to farmers that need them most. |