Tara

Like John Keeling and Robert Guenther, Tara Smith, lobbyist with the the American Farm Bureau Federation, said today there is no word yet about a possible compromise budget number between Congress and the White House.

"All the ag groups have been told to hold their fire for a while," she told me today.

Smith said she has been hearing the Administration is continuing to hold firm on a budget number of $6 billion over baseline. "That's unacceptable to agriculture; we would have to use the commodity title to fund other priorities and that is unacceptable," she said.

When I suggested whether $9 billion could be the compromise figure between the Senate's offer of $12 billion over baseline and the White House position of $6 billion, Smith said that everything that she has heard indicates the Administration"wants nothing to do" with that number - $9 billion. Given that reality, it may be that Congress and farm lobbyists may eventually have to deal with a veto of the farm bill.

Can a veto be overcome?

"It is not going to be easy to do, but I hope a member of the House with a rural constituency would chose to vote with farmers rather than a lame duck president with a 28 percent approval rating," she said.

Unless the White House bends a little, the scenario Smith paints may well come to pass.