Rep. Stenholm (D-TX) offered an amendment providing peanut
producers the option to obtain marketing assistance loans
through the Farm Service Agency or a Secretary-approved peanut
producers’ marketing association (Amendment #54). The
amendment was agreed to by a voice vote.
Rep. Boswell (D-IA) offered an amendment to create a
farmer-owned and government-owned renewable energy reserve of
agricultural commodities (Amendment #13). This amendment failed
by a recorded vote.
Rep. Hall (R-OH) offered an amendment allowing the
Administrator to pay for transport, storage and distribution
costs for commodities used for non-emergency food aid.
(Amendment #26). This amendment was modified and agreed to by
unanimous consent.
Rep. Stenholm offered an amendment requiring a report on the
effect of fixed, decoupled payments and counter-cyclical
payments on the economic viability of producers and farming
infrastructure, particularly in situations where producers’
crop choice is limited (Amendment #53). This amendment was
agreed to by voice vote.
Rep. Stenholm offered an amendment altering food stamp
provisions for Puerto Rico (Amendment #55). This amendment was
agreed to by a voice vote.
Rep. Traficant (D-OH) offered a an amendment stipulating that
producers and other recipients of Commodity Credit Corporation
funds should, in expending the funds, purchase only
American-made equipment, products, and services (Amendment #62).
This amendment passed by a recorded vote.
Rep. Smith (R-MI) offered an amendment stating that
calculation of marketing loan assistance payment limitation
should include realized loan repayment gains, loan deficiency
payments, and generic certificate authority and nonrecourse loan
crop forfeiture gains (Amendment #52). The amendment failed by a
recorded vote.
Rep. English (R-PA) offered an amendment that would exempt
producers in Erie County, PA, to repay loan deficiency payments
and marketing loan gains erroneously paid to them in 1998 and
1999, and would allow those producers who had already made
repayment to be reimbursed (Amendment #20). The amendment passed
by a voice vote.
In other news, the Bush Administration today released a
statement that it does not support the proposed House Farm Bill,
H.R. 2646, in its present form. The statement criticizes the
bill for encouraging overproduction and low prices, failing to
help farmers most in need of assistance, interfering with trade,
spending too much money and not doing enough to protect the
environment. The Administration recommends that the House of
Representatives defer action on the bill until next year.
