Agricultural News
Lucas and Peterson Release House Farm Bill
Fri, 06 Jul 2012 06:04:52 CDT
Chairman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma and Ranking Member Collin Peterson of Minnesota released a discussion draft of the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (FARRM) on Thursday afternoon. FARRM is a bipartisan bill that saves taxpayers billions, reduces the nation's deficit, and repeals outdated policies while reforming, streamlining, and consolidating others. It is the product of a two-year process that examined every single policy under the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Agriculture. The legislation cuts spending, reduces the size of government, and makes common-sense reforms to agricultural policy.
"I'm pleased to release this bipartisan legislation with my friend and colleague Collin Peterson. Our efforts over the past two years have resulted in reform-minded, fiscally responsible policy that is equitable for farmers and ranchers in all regions and will lead to improved program delivery. This bill is an investment in production agriculture and rural America. Those of us in the agriculture community are quick to point out that our producers provide us with the safest, most abundant, most affordable food and fiber supply in the history of the world. We say it because it's true. This legislation is a commitment to maintaining that tradition," said Chairman Frank D. Lucas.
"Congress needs to complete work on the 2012 Farm Bill before the current bill expires, otherwise we jeopardize one of the economic bright spots of our nation's fragile economy. The legislation released today brings us yet another step closer to achieving this goal and I am pleased to have worked with the Chairman in this effort. We have a commodity title in place that will work for all parts of the country as well as continued support for the sugar program and my Dairy Security Act. I have long believed every government program must contribute toward deficit reduction and while I would have found other ways to accomplish the bill's nutrition savings, the bottom line is that, working together, we need to keep this farm bill moving forward. There will be challenges ahead, but we will pass the bill out of Committee next week and, if the House leadership gets this right and brings the bill to the floor, we will ultimately finish the bill in September," said Ranking Member Collin Peterson.
The House Ag Committee plans a business meeting on Wednesday, July 11, to consider this leadership proposal of the 2012 Farm Bill. If approved by the Committee, House Ag Committee Chair Lucas has indicated he would make his case for immediate floor time to obtain House Passage of the 2012 Farm Bill- to allow a conference between the House and Senate to happen yet this summer.
The text of the full 2012 Farm Bill can be found by clicking here.
A summary of the bill is also available- click here for that.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...