10/31/05 House ag cmte okays cuts

Farm and Ranch October 31, 2005 Even as the U.S. House of Representatives was voting Friday to pass the conference report on the 2006 Agriculture appropriations bill, the House Ag Committee was debating 3.7 billion dollars in cuts to agricultural spending over five years as part of a deficit reduction effort. Democrats on the Ag Committee emphasized the federal deficit is not being reduced at all and Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota was among the members who questioned reducing ag spending at this time. Pomeroy: "This is a very curious time to be cutting assistance to farmers. Our farmers are not getting more in the marketplace. Our farmers are experiencing dramatically higher costs. And the House Ag Committee meets to cut assistance to farmers?" But Republican Ag Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said the spending reductions only represented around one percent of agricultural spending. Goodlatte: "Commodity, Conservation, Rural Development, Research and Food Stamp programs all bear some burden but none take a disproportionate cut. My proposed mark reduces only direct payments to farmers established in Title 1 of the 2002 Farm Bill by one percent for four years." Committee Republicans easily passed 3.7 billion dollars in reductions, 23 percent more than required by budget reconciliation and 23 percent more than the Senate Ag Committee agreed on. Unlike the Senate package, the House included food stamps in its spending cuts and it did not fund the MILC program and other reductions in direct commodity payments are less than the Senate Ag Committee approved. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.