Cardoza: "This bill threads the needle."

A "veto-proof" margin is celebrated. From the office of Rep. Dennis Cardoza:

Today Congressman Dennis Cardoza (D-CA-18) applauded the passage of landmark reforms in the Farm Bill Conference Report that will finally allow California farmers and producers to benefit equitably from government farm programs. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture and a member of the conference committee, Mr. Cardoza helped to include historic investments in specialty crops, conservation, and nutrition programs in the bill, as well as commonsense improvements to the subsidy programs.

“California agriculture is finally getting the respect and treatment it deserves. This is a Farm Bill that I am proud to support,” said Cardoza during debate on the House floor. “I am especially proud of the new $2.3 billion federal investment in specialty crops and the $150 million subprogram within EQIP for air quality improvement.”

The 2007 Farm Bill contains historic funding for programs that are priorities to specialty crop farmers, conservationists, and nutrition advocates. This funding includes resources for research and pest detection, block grants, organic farming, farmer’s market promotion, the Environmental Quality Improvement Program (EQIP), and the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Snack program, which helps provide fresh fruits and vegetables to low income school children.

Within the EQIP program the bill contains $150 million for air quality mitigation, which will help farmers comply with federal and local air pollution laws. These funds are critical for farmers in California’s San Joaquin Valley which has some of the worst air in the nation and the toughest air quality laws. The bill also contains important technical changes that will allow more California farmers to be eligible for authorized farming programs.

Mr. Cardoza and other members of the Agriculture Committee, many of whom are Blue Dog Democrats, were dedicated to complying with pay-as-you-go (PAY-GO) rules in passing the Farm Bill. Compliance with PAY-GO and competing funding priorities, required lawmakers to take a hard look at all farm programs and discontinue or de-fund those that were not operating effectively, resulting in a completely paid for bill.

“This bill threads the needle,” said Cardoza. “While people didn’t get everything they wanted, the country got what it needed. That speaks volumes about the quality of this bill and tells me we ended up in exactly the right place. For the first time in the history of the farm bill lawmakers, conservationists, nutrition advocates, and farmers from all regions of the country support the overall bill.”

The Farm Bill passed on the House floor by a veto-proof margin of 318 – 106.

Sen. Harkin sends his congratulations

From the office of Sen. Tom Harkin:

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today issued the following statement in response to the House’s passage of the farm bill conference report – the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008. The measure now goes to the Senate. Harkin is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry and the Senate-House conference committee on the new farm bill. “I congratulate and commend Chairman Peterson, Ranking Member Goodlatte and the House Agriculture Committee for gaining House passage of the farm bill conference report .“The House passage of the farm bill conference report on a strong, bipartisan basis demonstrates support for core farm bill initiatives – conservation, energy, nutrition and rural development – while continuing and strengthening farm income protection. This bill benefits every American, from our smallest towns to our biggest cities, urban and rural residents, farmers and non-farmers. I now look forward to the Senate approving the measure with a strong vote."

Farm bill passes the House

Conference farm bill passes the House!

The House vote was 318 to 106, a good sign that a farm bill veto can be overturned by a two-thirds (273 ) majority. The Senate is expected to take up the farm bill later today or tomorrow morning.

Farm bill cost estimate - CBO

From the Congressional Budget Office, the director's "blog" on the farm bill:

CBO has issued a cost estimate for H.R. 2419, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. Under the legislation, most of the policies would extend only through 2012; following baseline construction rules for mandatory programs, however, we assume that expiring programs are continued indefinitely. (Note to those who favor including all expiring tax provisions “in the baseline”: this example demonstrates how the baseline is intended to work in conjunction with the budget scoring process. Programs that are assumed to continue in the baseline, despite their official expiration, are also treated that way in the budget scoring process.)

Relative to CBO’s March 2008 baseline projections, we estimate that enacting H.R. 2419 would increase direct spending by about $3.6 billion over the 2008-2018 period, assuming that the legislation would remain in effect throughout that period. JCT and CBO estimate that revenues would increase under the legislation by $0.7 billion over the same period. On balance, those changes would produce net costs (increases in deficits or reductions in surpluses) of about $2.9 billion over the 11-year period, relative to CBO’s most recent baseline projections. Over the 2008-2012 period when the act would be in effect, spending on the programs it covers would total about $307 billion. Of that sum, $209 billion is for nutrition programs, $35 billion is for agricultural commodity programs, and $25 billion is for conservation programs.

Relative to CBO’s March 2007 baseline assumptions, enactment of H.R. 2419 would increase direct spending by $0.5 billion over the 2008-2017 period. (Fiscal year 2017 is currently the last year used for budget enforcement in the Senate under S. Con. Res. 21, the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2008.) JCT and CBO estimate that revenues would increase under the legislation by $0.7 billion over the same period. On balance, those changes would produce net savings (reductions in deficits or increases in surpluses) of about $0.1 billion over the 10-year period, relative to CBO’s March 2007 baseline projections

In addition, enactment of H.R. 2419 would affect spending subject to appropriation action. However, CBO has not completed an estimate of the potential discretionary costs of the act.

Finally, let me publicly thank the CBO staff who have been working on the farm bill. They have been doing yeoman’s work under extremely demanding conditions.

News conference rescheduled

Update on the news conference from House leaders:




House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) will be joined by members of the Farm Bill Conference Committee and members of the House Agriculture Committee to discuss today's expected vote on the 2008 Farm Bill conference report. The press conference will be held at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time in room 1300 of the Longworth House Office Building.

WHO: House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin C. Peterson, Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte and members of the Farm Bill
Conference Committee and House Agriculture Committee

WHEN: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at 4:30 Eastern Time
WHERE: 1300 Longworth House Office Building

Live video of the press conference will be available on the House Agriculture Committee website:
http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/audio.html

National Truck Rate Report - May 13

From the USDA's National Truck Rate Report from May 14:

A shortage of trucks was reported for the following commodities and regions:tomatoes, melons and mixed vegetables from Nogales, Arizona, onions from Imperial Valley California, citrus, mixed vegetables and tomatoes from Central and South Florida, melons and potatoes from Florida, greens and cabbage from South Georgia, onions from Vidalia District, Georgia, sweet potatoes from Eastern North Carolina, onions from the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas and San Antonio-Winter Garden-Laredo District Texas. A slight shortage of trucks was reported for the following commodities and regions: peppers, corn and mixed vegetables from Imperial & Coachella Valley California, carrots from Kern District California, mixed vegetables and strawberries from Santa Maria, potatoes from San Luis Valley Colorado and Upper Valley, Twin Falls-Burley District Idaho, citrus, avocados, watermelon and mixed vegetables from Mexico Crossings Through Texas, and watermelons from South Texas. A barely adequate supply of trucks was reported for sweet potatoes from Mississippi and Louisiana.
A surplus of trucks was reported for the following commodities and regions: potatoes from Minnesota-North Dakota (Red River Valley). FIRST REPORT was issued peaches, nectarines and apricots from San Joaquin Valley California, sweet potatoes from Louisiana and onions from San Antonio-Winter Garden-Laredo District Texas. LAST REPORT was issued for greens from South Georgia, citrus from South Florida, potatoes from Minnesota-North Dakota (Red River Valley). All other districts reported an adequate supply of trucks.

A clarification about scoring

From the office of Sen. Tom Harkin, Kate Cyrul writes:

There’s been a bit of confusion over the cost of our bill, so I wanted to let you all know that CBO released two scores yesterday. We are scoring against the March 2007 baseline, revised to reflect the enactment of the energy bill and omnibus appropriations bill late last year, so our bill is $288.97 billion over 5 years.

Counting their chickens

Even before debate has begun, a press conference has been scheduled to discuss the farm bill vote. From the office of Rep. Collin Peterson:



House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) will be joined by members of the Farm Bill Conference Committee and members of the House Agriculture Committee to discuss today’s expected vote on the 2008 Farm Bill conference report. The press conference will be held on at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time in room 1300 of the Longworth House Office Building.

WHO: House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin C. Peterson, Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte and members of the Farm Bill Conference Committee and House Agriculture Committee

WHEN: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time

WHERE: 1300 Longworth House Office Building

Live video of the press conference will be available on the House Agriculture Committee website: http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/audio.html

WIC and potatoes - A partial fix

This slid across the inbox today. It will be interesting to see how the USDA works with what the farm bill conference has given them on this issue. It is not a total fix, since potatoes were supposedly excluded on the basis of science by the Institute of Medicine report. Here is the news release:


Members of Idaho’s Congressional Delegation have convinced a House-Senate conference committee to include pro-potato language that could lead to white potatoes being restored as part of a program for low income women and children.

The conference committee agreed to include report language in the Farm Bill suggesting that white potatoes should not be unnecessarily excluded from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s nutrition programs including the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. The committee’s Joint Statement of Managers voices support for “the inclusion of all fruits and vegetables in the federal nutrition programs where supported by science."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently published an interim rule that excluded white potatoes from the program. The WIC program is supposed to assist low-income and nutritionally at-risk pregnant and breastfeeding women and their infants and children.

Senators Larry Craig, Mike Crapo and Congressmen Mike Simpson and Bill Sali, wrote letters in support of including white potatoes in the WIC program.

"I am pleased that the Committee shared our recognition of the healthful value of the potato by encouraging USDA to correct this wrongdoing and include all fresh fruits and vegetables, such as white potatoes, in this vital nutrition program," Senator Larry Craig said.

“Good choices lead to better nutrition, and the Idaho potato is a great source of potassium, fiber, vitamin C and many B vitamins,” Senator Mike Crapo said. “It is important to ensure that white potatoes are available as part of the nutritional options open for low income food programs to the benefit of women and children. The inclusion of this language will help with that effort. This is great news for Idaho’s Famous Potatoes and our local potato growers.”

“There was never any rational reasoning for excluding white potatoes from this important program,” said Congressman Mike Simpson. “The Committee’s action is an appropriate acknowledgement of the fundamental role potatoes play in a healthy, balanced diet.”

“This is a significant breakthrough that will directly benefit countless low income families who would have turned to less healthy, more expensive food choices to meet their budgets and dietary needs,” said Congressman Bill Sali.

Members of Idaho’s delegation had argued that by excluding only white potatoes from the WIC program, the rule would create confusion on the part of participants, which may drive these individuals to other, less-healthy options. Delegation members said the exclusion of white potatoes adds an unnecessary logistical complexity for all who use the WIC program – participants, grocers and vendors.

Farm bill up Wednesday

From the office of Rep. Bob Goodlatte:

According to the Whip Notice, consideration of the farm bill conference report will be first on the schedule tomorrow (Wednesday) immediately following One Minutes. I recommend tuning in around 10:15. I’ll let you know if anything changes.