3/19/02

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1. Farm Bill ACTION Background
2. ACTION #1 - Call Conferee
3. ACTION #2 - Call Your Senator
4. Administration Offers Mixed View on Farm Bill

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Farm Bill conservation programs have proved to be a lightning rod for controversy in ongoing deliberations of the House-Senate conference. The Senate-passed bill, which delivers $21.3 billion in new funding for conservation programs, must be reconciled with a House bill that provides about 25% less money. The Senate bill also contains significantly better policy provisions. Buoyed by the recent revelation that the Senate bill will cost $6.1 billion more than previously estimated (see Rural Updates, March 13), House conferees are demanding that the Senate cut the very provisions that made its bill better than the House version conservation, rural development, nutrition and credit programs that rural America desperately needs. Unfortunately, the Senate seems poised to acquiesce and cut these critical programs. Conferees need to hear how important the Senate provisions are to rural America. See #2 and #3 below for how to make your voice heard!

2. CALL CONFEREES AND TELL THEM TO HOLD FIRM ON CONSERVATION!

Now, more than ever, it is crucial to contact members of the House and Senate conference committee and let them know that a compromise on conservation is unacceptable. ASK THEM TO SUPPORT THE CONSERVATION PROGRAMS AND SPENDING LEVELS AS LAID OUT IN THE SENATE VERSION. Remind them that without significant overhaul, additional funding into commodities programs is throwing good money into a bloated system that only supports the richest farmers.

Remind them that taxpayers won't take well to reducing conservation funding to pay for ineffective commodities payment programs. This is particularly important, because some Senators have indicated they would be willing to cut conservation funding almost all the way down to the House level. If you live in one of the districts or states below, please call your Representative or Senator and ask them to maintain the funding levels and the policies and programs in the Senate bill. PLEASE CALL TODAY

Even if your Representative or Senator is not a member of the Farm Bill conference committee, your Senator can be key in helping to preserve the gains in the Senate bill. If you live in one of the states listed below, please contact your Senator and ask him or her to pass the conservation message on to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. The more of his colleagues telling him not to compromise on the Senate's conservation funding levels and the good programs and policies included in the Senate bill, the more likely he will be to stand firm. Please call the following Senators and ask them to inform Senator Daschle that farm bill conservation programs are important to their constituents:

California: Senator Barbara Boxer (202-224-3553) and Senator Dianne Feinstein (202-224-3841)

Maryland: Senator Paul Sarbanes (202-224-4524) and Senator Barbara Mikulski (202-224-4654)

4. ADMINISTRATION OFFERS MIXED VIEWS ON FARM BILL PROGRAMS

In a March 13 letter to House Agriculture Committee chairman Larry Combest, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman related the Administration's mixed views on the Farm Bill options currently before conferees. Veneman emphasized the need for the final bill to stay within the confines of the Congressional Budget Resolution, not exceeding $73.5 billion. She also criticized the front-loading approach taken by the Senate version of the bill and stated that the Administration preferred the commodity program structure in the House bill. However, she praised the Senate bill's nutrition programs and stated, "The Administration supports a Farm Bill with a strong conservation title that bolsters working land stewardship, supplements farmers' and ranchers' income, improves water quality, provides wildlife habitat, conserves water and protects open space." The Senate's conservation title is accepted by most environmental and rural advocates to be the stronger of the two bills. Unfortunately, according to Veneman's letter, the Administration would prefer to see the Senate's Conservation Security Program as a pilot program this despite the fact that the Administration's statement of Farm Bill principles just months before emphasized the need for stewardship programs such as the CSP.