Sounding upbeat

Here is the the audio link of Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, at this weekly teleconference with reporters yesterday. As you can hear, he says the committee is "beginning to rally around a basic framework" for a sound investment in American agriculture.

The first question is asked about the new investments from the Finance Committee tax package; how much money is out there and where will the offsets come from? About $9 billion, Harkin said, and answering the second part of the question about the source of the offsets; "That's their end of the deal; where it goes is my end of the deal."

Talking later in the day with a farm lobbyist, I get the idea that a markup is highly unlikely Thursday or Friday, though Harkin holds out hope in this briefing that he can pull it off. The Senate's behind the scenes work on the farm bill doesn't come close to matching the transparency in the House process, though in the end the House bill also had its share of 11th hour and closed door sessions before the final product emerged.