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Agricultural News


Senate Embraces Coburn High Earner Means Test as Well as Conservation Compliance on Crop Insurance- Senate Farm Bill Debate Update

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 05:54:55 CDT

Senate Embraces Coburn High Earner Means Test as Well as Conservation Compliance on Crop Insurance- Senate Farm Bill Debate Update Work on the farm bill continued in the Senate Wednesday. The vote on final passage of the measure is expected on Thursday afternoon, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expressing the hope of being done by 3 PM Washington time- Reid calling the progress adequate on Wednesday afternoon with mostly just the non germaine amendments left to consider, along with the debate and vote on the actual 2012 Farm Bill as amended to this point. We have an audio overview from Wednesday- spotlighting the Coburn amendment a high income means test on Crop Insurance premium subsidies.


On Wednesday at least 35 amendments were voted on in a combination of voice votes and recorded votes. Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn was successful in his attempt to limit subsidies for millionaires and raise premiums for farmers with an adjusted gross income in excess of 750-thousand dollars. But Coburn's effort to reduce funding for the Market Access Program and restrict the use of program funds was unsuccessful. The amendment was opposed by 80 members of the Coalition to Promote U.S. Agricultural Exports and the final vote on the Senate floor was 30 to 69. Click here to read more about the MAP debate on Wednesday and a chance to hear Senator Coburn and Stabenow make their respective cases.


On the Coburn-Durbin amendment relating to Crop Insurance premium subsidies- Scott Farber of the Environmental Working Group was very pleased- "Thanks to the leadership of Senators Coburn and Durbin, the Senate today adopted a common sense reform to our crop insurance subsidies that will help level the playing field for family farmers. We applaud the senators for their efforts to place reasonable limits on crop insurance, which has become the primary safety net for farmers, that will simply require the largest and most profitable farm businesses to share a fair share of their risk protection costs with the taxpayer."


In other roll call votes - Senators rejected amendments to eliminate the authority of the Secretary to increase the amount of grants provided to eligible entities relating to providing access to broadband telecommunications services in rural areas, to repeal the forest legacy program and to repeal the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Conservation Reserve Program. Also rejected was an attempt to reform the sugar program - and amendments to eliminate biorefinery, renewable chemical and biobased product manufacturing assistance and to provide for emergency food assistance.


In what could be considered a "wow" moment during the debate- the Senate approved an amendment to establish highly erodible land and wetland conservation compliance requirements for the Federal crop insurance program- as offered by former Chairman of the Committee, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia. That measure passed 52-47 and came over the objections of Chairlady Debbie Stabenow, who told reporters earlier in the day that we should not go that direction because we need to encourage as many farmers as is possible to sign up for crop insurance to make the pool of those insured as large as is possible to spread risk nationally. Several agricultural groups expressed their disappointment in that vote- including the National Corn Growers Association. Their President, Garry Niemeyer, offered this statement after the vote- "The National Corn Growers Association is very disappointed to see passage of Senator Saxby Chambliss' conservation compliance for crop insurance amendment in the 2012 farm bill. Our members have spent a significant amount of time discussing this issue and feel this addition to the farm bill would have a negative impact toward America's farmers. NCGA's official policy states we oppose the coupling of conservation compliance to eligibility for federal crop insurance."


There was more than one attempt to send the farm bill back to the Senate Ag Committee during the Wednesday debate. One motion to recommit came from Senator Mike Lee of Utah - the other from Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Johnson wanted to split the measure into two separate bills - one with the nutrition provisions and another with the ag provisions. The Senate would vote separately on the two bills. According to Johnson - when debating legislation to spend nearly a trillion dollars - Congress needs to be honest with the American people about what they are doing. He said the bill currently before the Senate is not a farm bill - but a welfare bill - with nearly 80-percent of the spending going to food stamps. According to Johnson - Congress should be clear about how much they are spending and why they are spending it. He added that Senators should have the opportunity for a straight up or down vote on two different proposals that have little in common. Johnson's motion received 40 'yes' votes.


Click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear our overview on the Wednesday debate of the 2012 Farm Bill.



   
   

Ron Hays this overview of the Senate Farm Bill Debate from Wednesday, June 20, 2012
right-click to download mp3

 

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