Below is a copy of the proposal reportedly put forth the by the Bush Administration over the weekend.  It’s hard to say whether this is truly an attempt at negotiation, or the administration digging in.  Either way, the March 15th deadline, which is when the extension of the 2002 farm bill expires, looms. 

Administration Farm Bill Compromise Proposal (pdf)

While we agree with the proposal that any new farm bill must not include new revenue raisers or budget gimmicks, we do not completely agree with all that is proposed.  For example, it appears the door is left open for a new “permanent disaster” fund.  You can read what my colleague and I think of disaster funding here.  Further, there’s plenty of money to be found in the current baseline for other priorities without increasing spending by up to $10 billion.  First off there’s the $5 billion people get regardless of whether they grow anything.  And what about the crop insurance program?  High crop prices mean larger government handouts to insurance company agents – with no commensurate increase in their workload.  Professor Bruce Babcock at Iowa State tells me there’s $7.3 billion in savings to be found there – more if we were to truly reform crop insurance.

Congressmen Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Ron Kind (D-WI), Paul Ryan (R-WI), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and others have also proposed a number of reasonable reforms that they pay for within the underlying bill.  A copy of their letter to farm bill negotiators including their “10 point plan” can be viewed here: Letter to Farm Bill Negotiators (pdf). 

It remains to be seen what final legislation will look like.  But it appears no one is ready to give yet.

For more information, contact Demian Moore, (202)-546-8500 ext. 118 or by email.