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To: Lane3 who wrote (10861)	4/25/2002 10:56:15 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21057

Lawmakers Reach Deal on Farm Bill With Expansions By Dan Morgan Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 26, 2002; Page A8 House and Senate negotiators reached tentative agreement yesterday on a new farm bill that provided increased federal subsidies for producers of basic commodities over the next six years, and allowed up to $360,000 total annual government payments to any individual or cooperation. Conferees withheld most details of the deal pending a review of the numbers by the Congressional Budget Office. But the chairmen of the House and Senate agriculture committees expressed confidence that the agreement would hold. "We have a deal," said the Senate chairman, Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). His House counterpart, Rep. Larry Combest (R-Tex.), was only slightly less confident. "We think we have the framework for an agreement that we think we'll be able to finalize," he said. Harkin, who is running for reelection this fall, said the agreement includes his signature proposal to reward farmers for improved environmental practices. At a cost of $2 billion spread over 10 years, the plan would be the largest single new program in the farm bill, Harkin said. The conferees agreed earlier to increase spending on agricultural conservation by $17.1 billion over 10 years. Although the figure is an improvement over previous farm bills, it falls well short of the $21.3 billion initially proposed by the Senate. That figure was cut to free more money for direct payments and subsidies to growers of major commodities. Negotiations have revealed deep fissures between the Senate and House, as well as sharp regional divisions that cut across party lines. Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) has lobbied for high support prices for Great Plains wheat growers, but House GOP leaders, with their base in the South, have been more attentive to rice and cotton interests. The Southerners, along with big Midwest corn growers, have favored raising direct cash payments to farmers as opposed to raising support prices that, they fear, contribute to oversupply. Despite House passage of a nonbinding resolution calling on the conferees to limit government payments to $275,000, as the Senate proposed, House negotiators held out for a higher number. Another item of friction with the House has been a Senate plan to require the labeling of meat with its country of origin. The American Farm Bureau and consumer groups have been supportive. But some cattlemen in Texas, home state of Combest and ranking Democrat Charles W. Stenholm, fear a rigid requirement would hurt their ability to import calves from Mexico. The labeling issue also touches on U.S. trade agreements with Mexico and Canada, and raises possible conflicts with the World Trade Organization. Also stalling a final agreement have been differences over food stamp benefits for legal immigrants and proposed curbs on livestock ownership by meat packers. It was unclear whether dairy provisions agreed to in the closed-door House-Senate talks would be satisfactory to Northeast dairy interests, a formidable Senate bloc. © 2002 The Washington Post Company