Chet Edwards For Congress

Congress Comes Through With New Farm Bill

Hillsboro Reporter | May 29, 2008

Edwards: "This bipartisan Farm Bill makes real reforms that will strengthen American agriculture to meet the 21st-century needs of the United States and provide a safe, low-cost food supply for American families."

A new farm bill that will carry the country through 2012 made it through Congress last week.

The conference report on The Food and Energy Security Act of 2007, commonly called the "Farm Bill," was passed by the House of Representatives and Senate on back-to-back days.

Republican Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, along with Democratic Congressman Chet Edwards, were among the members of the Texas delegation supporting the bill.

Covered in the bill are programs relating to commodities, sugar, dairy, conservation, exports and trade assistance, food stamps and nutrition, agricultural credit, rural development, rural electrification, agricultural research, forestry, energy, specialty crops and livestock.

The House passed its version of the bill the end of July, and the Senate passed its bill in December.

Since the original legislation expired December 31, Congress was required to pass several extensions before the conference report was released and acted upon.

Edwards said that the bill makes a $289 billion investment in the American food and farm economy.

"This bipartisan Farm Bill makes real reforms that will strengthen American agriculture to meet the 21st-century needs of the United States and provide a safe, low-cost food supply for American families," said Edwards, a member of the House Rural Working Group.

"Our farmers and ranchers are the backbone of America, and despite rising food prices, Americans still spend the lowest percentage of their income in the world for food because of the success of the programs under the Farm Bill.

"If you don't like the high cost of foreign OPEC oil, just imagine how high food prices would be if the U.S. was dependent on foreign farms for its food supply," the congressman added.

Nearly three-fourths of the Farm Bill goes toward nutrition programs that help 38 million American families afford healthy food.

The Farm Bill also invests $1 billion in renewable energy, focusing on new technologies and new sources.

It supports the transition beyond corn ethanol to cellulosic ethanol sources such as sorghum, switch grass, woodchips and corn stalks, which can help lower food prices.

While many of the 2002 Farm Bill programs are continued, there were changes of note, in Edwards' opinion.

The bill reduces the cap for non-farm income by 80 percent to $500,000, and puts in place the first-ever cap for farm income at $750,000 for fixed direct payments.

It also takes another critical step in transitioning biofuels beyond corn by reducing the current tax credit for corn-based ethanol by six cents per gallon and creating a new tax credit to promote the production of cellulosic biofuels.

Senator Cornyn said, "Passage of this bill is an important and long-overdue step for Texas farmers and ranchers, providing them a stable policy moving forward.

"It's not perfect but it represents a carefully-crafted compromise that will protect Texas agriculture, including family farms, strengthen key nutrition programs and fight childhood obesity.

"One in every seven Texans can trace their employment to agriculture. In rural Texas agriculture is the engine that drives much of the economy, so this bill will also help protect and expand Texas jobs."

The senator said that he was particularly pleased that Congress successfully excluded burdensome livestock-ownership regulations.

He added, "There are extraneous spending provisions in this legislation that I would have liked to see excluded, but overall, this is a good bill for Texas.

"It provides our farmers and ranchers with the support they need and will ultimately benefit consumers, particularly as working families struggle with rising food prices. I hope the President will sign it into law quickly."

In addition to a number of key programs in the bill that will benefit Texas, Sen. Cornyn was also successful in adding two amendments to the Farm Bill.

The senator secured one to ensure that taxpayers do not pay for natural disasters twice.

The Senate Farm Bill establishes, for the first time, a standing trust fund to respond to weather-related disasters that are not covered by existing law.

However, as written, the Farm Bill did not provide enough assurance that Congress would not double-bill taxpayers for disasters that would already be covered by the new trust fund.

Sen. Cornyn also secured an amendment to combat childhood obesity through food stamps, the largest federal-nutrition program.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to offer grants to state and local governments and non-governmental organizations to develop ways to fight obesity among all food-stamp recipients.

With a 318 to 106 vote in the House and 81-15 tally in the Senate, the votes should be there to override a threatened veto by President George W. Bush.

Release of the House-Senate conference report brought a disappointing response from the President.

He contended that his administration's Farm Bill would have made wiser use of the people's money by reforming farm programs, funding emerging priorities and providing a safety net that better targets benefits for farmers.

He contended that Congress' claims that the bill would increase spending by $10 billion over the five-year life of the bill really translates into nearly $20 billion.

The President had called on Congress to extend the current law for at least a year in the absence of what he considered a good Farm Bill.

President Bush has 10 days from the vote to veto the measure, sign the bill or let it take effect without his signature.