Agricultural News
Farm Bill Follies- May 16, 2013- House Ag Committee Passes Out Bill
Thu, 16 May 2013 06:37:45 CDT
The momentum to get a new five year farm law to replace the first expired and now extended 2008 Farm Law continued to roll on Wednesday- as the House Ag Committee matched the Senate Ag Committee's work on reporting a Farm Bill proposal out to their full legislative body. The Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act passed the House Ag Committee by a 36 to 10 margin on Wednesday after the Senate Ag Committee passed their version of the measure out on Tuesday by a 15 to 5 vote. (Click here for details on the Senate action from Tuesday)
Chairman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma faced 92 amendments on Tuesday evening ahead of the mark up- but the majority and minority staff worked late and produced a "manager's amendment" that was called an "en bloc" amendment that folded about one fourth of the amendments into one package that Chairman Lucas and Ranking Member Colin Peterson agreed on- that was debated and passed Wednesday morning by a voice vote.
After that, it was one amendment at a time- and the process ended about 11 pm eastern time with the final vote.
Of note- the dairy provisions championed by Colin Peterson of Minnesota were defended by Chairman Lucas and stayed in the bill after being challenged by former Chairman of the Committee, Bob Goodlatte.
Goodlatte offered a sugar reform package and then withdrew the amendment.
The reductions of twenty billion dollars over ten years to the nutrition programs was kept in the measure- after Democrats failed to roll back and eliminate the cuts proposed by the Chairman and Ranking Member's Mark.
An amendment that will allow USDA to set the framework for an organic checkoff was approved, despite misgivings by Chairman Lucas about how the amendment was worded.
An amendment to stop USDA from doing any more work ever on the so called GIPSA Rule was approved by a voice vote, after the man who helped put it into the 2008 Farm Law, Colin Peterson, spoke for the amendment saying that USDA over reached as they tried to implement their rule.
Amendments to repeal mandatory COOL and to outlaw horse slaughter for human consumption were discussed but withdrawn and not considered by the Committee.
Next up- floor consideration for this bill- and it appears the Committee leadership anticipates that could come in June.
Click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear our Thursday morning edition of Farm Bill Follies that recaps some of the highlights of the day in the House Ag Committee.
Listen to Ron Hays for an overview of the Wednesday action in the House Ag Committee regarding the 2013 Farm Bill- known as FARRM
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