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FARM BILL TALKS AT CRUCIAL STAGE

https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/11412-washington-week-ahead-farm-bill-talks-at-crucial-stage

09/09/18 10:00 AM By Philip Brasher

The farm bill negotiators face a self-imposed deadline this week for reaching a deal that Congress could act on by the end of the month when the 2014 farm bill expires.

Meanwhile, negotiations also are underway to finish work on a series of fiscal 2019 spending packages that are needed to fund USDA, FDA, EPA, the Interior Department and other departments and agencies important to agriculture. The new fiscal year starts Oct. 1.

The four lead farm bill negotiators - the chairmen and ranking members for the Senate and House Agriculture committees - met face to face twice last week and are scheduled to reconvene on Wednesday after Congress returns from its break for Rosh Hashanah.

The negotiators said they made progress last week but remained unable to nail down deals on a range of issues, from the major commodity programs to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

“We keep talking and circling and touching gloves. Eventually we’ll have to say, ‘Alright, we’ve got to get this done,’” said House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas.

Sept. 30 is not a hard deadline for enacting a new bill: Crop insurance is permanently authorized, and the commodity programs for grains, oilseeds and cotton will remain in effect for the 2018-19 marketing year. But the negotiators have made Sept. 30 their target for completing the talks. To do that, they set a goal of concluding the negotiations this week, which would allow time for finalizing cost estimates and making any needed adjustments.

The House is scheduled to be out the week of Sept. 17, leaving just seven legislative days before October.

Lawmakers and their aides were keeping tight hold on details of the talks, although the negotiators acknowledged there was talk of settling the divisions over food stamp work requirements by modifying the rules for state and regional waivers.

One farm bill veteran, Dale Moore, vice president of public affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation, expressed optimism that the talks were moving toward a deal soon. Moore, a former congressional aide and chief of staff to USDA during the George W. Bush administration, said the negotiations were proceeding at a much quicker pace than they had for recent farm bills.

“What we’re hearing leak out is that the four principals are still very much engaged with each other,” said Moore.