[Faith & Hunger] House Rejects Farm Bill Overhaul - Washington Post

[Dunleamark at aol.com]

Voting yes for the amendment: McNulty, Rangel, Bishop, Serrano, Towns
 
Voting no for the amendment: Gillibrand, Hinchey, Hall
 
House Rejects Farm Bill Overhaul
Effort to Revamp Traditional Subsidies Is Defeated, 309 to 117
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, July 27, 2007; A04

Farm state lawmakers, allied with House Democratic leaders, last night easily 
defeated a proposal for a major overhaul of traditional farm programs that 
would have pared subsidies to big growers and spread benefits more broadly. 
The 309 to 117 vote came on the first day of debate on a multiyear farm bill 
that was heading for final action today. 
Republican support for the bill was in doubt last night because of a dispute 
over a provision that would tighten rules on the use of tax havens by U.S. 
subsidiaries of foreign companies. 
But key farm state Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the amendment, 
sponsored by Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.). "It rips out the safety net for American 
farmers and ranchers," said Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte (Va.), ranking Republican 
on the House Agriculture Committee. 
The amendment was billed as this year's major challenge to an entrenched 
farm-subsidy system. The defeat was a setback for a coalition of environmental 
organizations, anti-hunger groups and religious leaders who favor shifting more 
funds to conservation, nutrition and other priorities while creating a more 
level playing field in world markets for unsubsidized poor farmers abroad. 
"Change is tough in this place," Kind said. The current subsidies to farmers, 
he said, raise farmland prices to the disadvantage of young farmers trying to 
rent or buy land, while making big farmers dependent on "a government 
paycheck, not the marketplace." 
Environmental Defense, an advocacy group, produced a study showing that more 
than 300 congressional districts would be eligible for increased funding under 
Kind's bill, but to no avail. 
Kind's vision in recent months came into conflict with the pragmatic politics 
of Democratic leaders seeking to rebuild the party's rural-urban bonds. House 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urged Democrats to support the farm bill. 
Recalling that a similar Kind amendment garnered 200 votes in 2001, the 
Agriculture Committee loaded the bill with billions of dollars for nutrition 
programs, conservation, black farmers, and the Florida and California fruit and 
vegetable industries, in an effort to attract broad support. As late as 1 a.m. 
yesterday, Democratic leaders were adding money for nutrition programs. 
About $840 million in mandatory spending was added for the McGovern-Dole food 
aid program, after nearly $1 billion was shifted out of government payments 
to private crop insurance companies to offset the cost. 
The new funding was sought by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), a key member of 
the House Rules Committee. McGovern said it was "a good thing" that the crop 
insurance industry would be contributing to feeding hungry children abroad. 
The program is named for two former senators, not for the congressman. 
The revamp effort by Kind, whose western Wisconsin farm grows corn and 
soybeans on 60 acres, made him few friends on the agriculture panel. 
Committee Chairman Collin C. Peterson (D-Minn.) said last week that Kind and 
his allies are "out on a limb, and I'm trying to cut if off." 
Peterson suggested that Kind "was being used by the Bush administration," 
which favors some of the same changes. 
"There was no collusion," Kind responded. "I've been working on this for six 
years." 
Morgan is a contract writer for the newspaper and a fellow with the German 
Marshall Fund, a nonpartisan public policy institution.



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