Roberts hopeful on bipartisan, bicameral ag agreement
October 11, 2011 | 07:28 PM
Senate Agriculture ranking member Pat Roberts, R-Kans., confirmed today that the leaders of the House and Senate agriculture committees are attempting to reach a joint agreement to send the super committee in charge of deficit reduction.
Roberts said he is hopeful there will be an agreement that would send a single, bipartisan message to the committee. The deadline for submissions from the authorizing committees such as Agriculture to the super committee is Friday. The super committee is supposed to come up with a proposal to cut the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years by Nov. 23, and the House and Senate are supposed to vote on it by Dec. 23.
In a brief interview with The Hagstrom Report, Roberts said he and the other three leaders of the committees — Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn. — “are working on it” and “hopefully” will be able to send an agreement to the super committee.
But Roberts also noted, that every time a farmer puts a seed in the ground he is hopeful there will be a crop, but that “sometimes you get hailed out.”
Another Hill source said the discussions were at a “delicate” point.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said earlier today that, “right now, there is a real possibility” of a bipartisan agreement, Reuters reported.
Grassley said that the proposed cuts over 10 years would be between $20 billion and $33 billion, including elimination of the direct payments program, but that the agreement would also include adoption of a program that would shield crop producers from “shallow losses” caused by low prices or poor yields in addition to the current crop insurance program, Reuters said.
Roberts said he is hopeful there will be an agreement that would send a single, bipartisan message to the committee. The deadline for submissions from the authorizing committees such as Agriculture to the super committee is Friday. The super committee is supposed to come up with a proposal to cut the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years by Nov. 23, and the House and Senate are supposed to vote on it by Dec. 23.
In a brief interview with The Hagstrom Report, Roberts said he and the other three leaders of the committees — Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn. — “are working on it” and “hopefully” will be able to send an agreement to the super committee.
But Roberts also noted, that every time a farmer puts a seed in the ground he is hopeful there will be a crop, but that “sometimes you get hailed out.”
Another Hill source said the discussions were at a “delicate” point.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said earlier today that, “right now, there is a real possibility” of a bipartisan agreement, Reuters reported.
Grassley said that the proposed cuts over 10 years would be between $20 billion and $33 billion, including elimination of the direct payments program, but that the agreement would also include adoption of a program that would shield crop producers from “shallow losses” caused by low prices or poor yields in addition to the current crop insurance program, Reuters said.
