A committee of politicians from the House and Senate have
agreed on a new five-year Farm Bill for the United States.
They are, however, facing a strong lobbying campaign from
ranchers, hog producers and meat packers because the bill does not include a
clause to scrap current regulations for Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL).
Canadians and Mexicans also want COOL scrapped.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Trade Minister Ed Fast
said "Our government continues to stand with our industry, and
we remain steadfast in taking whatever steps may be necessary, including
retaliation, to achieve a fair resolution."
The bill features an $8-billion cut in food stamp subsidies
and increased crop insurance to replace direct crop subsidies which went mainly
to cotton, corn and rice.
The Republicans in the House sought a $39-billion cut in
food stamps back in September. This cut is one per cent from the current level
of food-stamp funding.
At $500 billion, this Farm Bill is $24 billion lower than it
would have cost to continue extending the current Farm Bill which was supposed
to end more than a year ago, but was extended when politicians failed to
negotiate a compromise.
This committee agreement still needs approval from the full
House and the Senate; that should be done by the end of next week. Then it will
go to President Obama who is likely to sign it. If he doesn’t, it will need a
two-thirds majority of politicians to over-ride Obama.
"We are so close to having a new bill that we need to
concentrate on getting it done," said Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat who
is a member of the farm bill conference committee. "This is basically a
sound, balanced, bipartisan bill."
Nonetheless the vehemence of the anger
expressed by major beef, pork, and poultry lobbies left the House Republican
leadership edgy, reported Politico, an on-line news outlet.
“There’s a lot of froth,” said one aide, and much of that
anger was aimed at Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat
from Michigan.
“We’re opposed to the bill and Debbie
Stabenow is to blame. She’s the one who said no,” said Colin Woodall, a vice
president for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
When a reporter suggested the cattlemen
would be “breaking [Lucas’] heart” if it took down the farm bill, Woodall didn’t
back away. “We’re going to work it hard,” he said.
The NCBF, the American Meat Institute
and several poultry and pork lobbies sent a letter to politicians warning they
will “actively oppose” final passage if their issues are not addressed.
