WASHINGTON, July 31, 2012 – Three key House Democrats are urging opposition to what they describe as a “shell” extension of the current farm bill and calling for a freestanding disaster assistance bill that could help livestock producers affected by the drought.
Representatives Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn, George Miller, D-Calif, and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., are circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter to generate opposition to a one-year extension of the 2008 farm bill, H.R. 6228, which they say “promotes a false sense that Congress is working on short-term relief for these producers who need it during this drought while providing a shell for conference with the Senate on longer-term farm legislation without following regular order, bypassing the concerns of Members outside of the House Agriculture Committee.
The trio also expressed concerns about language in H.R. 6228 that would convert several mandatory programs, like the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, into discretionary programs.
“The drought currently affecting producers in more than 30 States should be addressed in an honest and transparent manner before the House adjourns for our upcoming August recess. This would best be done through a freestanding disaster assistance bill to help those livestock producers,” they wrote.
For the full text of the letter:
Dear Colleague,
I write today about H.R. 6228, the Majority’s proposed one-year extension of the farm bill and livestock producer disaster assistance to aid famers impacted by this year’s drought. The drought currently affecting producers in more than 30 States should be addressed in an honest and transparent manner before the House adjourns for our upcoming August recess. This would best be done through a freestanding disaster assistance bill to help those livestock producers.
The bill posted by the Majority, however, ties that disaster assistance that producers need now to a problematic one-year extension of the current farm bill. The extension converts numerous mandatory programs from the farm bill – including the Organic Data Initiative, Specialty Crop Research Initiative, Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, and Rural Energy for America Program – to discretionary programs. Moreover, buried in the political extension is a politically motivated elimination of Desert Terminal Lakes program. Finally, the bill extends direct payments with a negligible cut to the program.
As importantly, while the one-year extension does not cut deeply into the nutrition title, it could open the possibility of conferencing the farm bills passed by the Senate and the House Committee on Agriculture, both of which include cuts to the title. These cuts, particularly those in the House bill, would negatively impact the ability of millions of Americans to get the food and nutrition they need in these difficult economic times.
This bill is highly unlikely to result in disaster assistance for livestock producers in the short-term because the disaster assistance is tied to a one-year extension the Senate is unlikely to immediately take up. Instead, it promotes a false sense that Congress is working on short-term relief for these producers who need it during this drought while providing a shell for conference with the Senate on longer-term farm legislation without following regular order, bypassing the concerns of Members outside of the House Agriculture Committee.
If we really want to help producers hurt by the drought, we would do so with a clean bill. I urge you to oppose this shell extension.
Sincerely,
Rosa L. DeLauro George Miller James P. McGovern
Member of Congress Member of Congress Member of Congress
#30
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