Stabenow still wants April markup
April 09, 2013 | 03:47 PM
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., today reaffirmed her intention to hold a markup of the farm bill in April, but noted that negotiations on the commodity title are not complete.
“I am hopeful for an April markup,” Stabenow told the North American Agricultural Journalists today. “We will have to see if it is possible. Right now we can’t set a date.”
Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., who also met with the agricultural journalists, said he would support Stabenow in whatever decision she makes on the schedule.
After Stabenow said recently that she wanted to mark up the bill before Congress leaves on April 24 for a one-week recess, there were rumors that Cochran wanted to delay the markup to get a better deal for southern interests in the bill.
But Cochran told the journalists, “I am not holding up anything, I will support the chairman’s decision on when a markup will be held.”
Stabenow said today that she wants to write a farm bill that will gain the support of the southerners on the committee who voted against it last year because they said the commodity title did not work for rice or peanuts.
“We have a little different dynamic in our committee,” Stabenow said, referring to the fact that Cochran has replaced Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., as the ranking member.
Stabenow said she wants to find “the middle ground that will address the colleagues in the South” but maintain the reforms that were in the bill last year, including the elimination of the direct payments program.
Stabenow said that target prices, which the southerners favor and which were included in the 2012 bill that the House Agriculture Committee approved, “have always been something” the committe has talked about.
She said that there are “interesting” new proposals from the American Soybean Association and the American Farm Bureau Federation. The big issue, she said, is whether the countercyclical program distorts markets and whether payments should be based on base versus planted acres.
Stabenow also noted that the committee will have less of a budget to work with than last year.
In separate sessions, Rep. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, a high-ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee, and House Agriculture ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., both said they believe that it is more likely that the House will take up the farm bill this year than last year.
Stabenow said she determined to write and finish a bill this year.
“Agriculture, rural America and consumers can’t afford for this to happen again,” she said, referring to the House leadership’s refusal to take up the bill in 2012.
“I am hopeful for an April markup,” Stabenow told the North American Agricultural Journalists today. “We will have to see if it is possible. Right now we can’t set a date.”
Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss., who also met with the agricultural journalists, said he would support Stabenow in whatever decision she makes on the schedule.
After Stabenow said recently that she wanted to mark up the bill before Congress leaves on April 24 for a one-week recess, there were rumors that Cochran wanted to delay the markup to get a better deal for southern interests in the bill.
But Cochran told the journalists, “I am not holding up anything, I will support the chairman’s decision on when a markup will be held.”
Stabenow said today that she wants to write a farm bill that will gain the support of the southerners on the committee who voted against it last year because they said the commodity title did not work for rice or peanuts.
“We have a little different dynamic in our committee,” Stabenow said, referring to the fact that Cochran has replaced Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., as the ranking member.
Stabenow said she wants to find “the middle ground that will address the colleagues in the South” but maintain the reforms that were in the bill last year, including the elimination of the direct payments program.
Stabenow said that target prices, which the southerners favor and which were included in the 2012 bill that the House Agriculture Committee approved, “have always been something” the committe has talked about.
She said that there are “interesting” new proposals from the American Soybean Association and the American Farm Bureau Federation. The big issue, she said, is whether the countercyclical program distorts markets and whether payments should be based on base versus planted acres.
Stabenow also noted that the committee will have less of a budget to work with than last year.
In separate sessions, Rep. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, a high-ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee, and House Agriculture ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., both said they believe that it is more likely that the House will take up the farm bill this year than last year.
Stabenow said she determined to write and finish a bill this year.
“Agriculture, rural America and consumers can’t afford for this to happen again,” she said, referring to the House leadership’s refusal to take up the bill in 2012.
