Page 22 - Farm Bill Series_The 7 Things You Should Know

December to produce a farm bill extension package. But it wasn’t just a straight extension.

Some of the key principals wanted more. Stabenow wanted renewal of energy programs and
organic provisions in addition to $125 million in “retroactive” insurance for tart cherry growers
who had been hard hit by a spring freeze in her home state of Michigan. Lucas wanted
continuation of direct payments to give growers some “certainty” on government supports for
2013. And Peterson wanted major dairy reforms from the proposed Dairy Security Act.

But as the media warned consumers of $8 per gallon milk, sources said the White House issued
only one directive regarding the farm bill: Fix the looming “dairy cliff” so prices would not
dramatically escalate.

As Vice President Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., huddled to
negotiate a package of tax provisions and budget cuts that would avoid the “fiscal cliff,” it
became apparent that farm bill provisions would only be able to catch a ride if the bigger fiscal
deal was reached. But it couldn’t be just any farm bill package. It had to be a deal that would be
able to pass the House and Senate without causing other complications. And it needed to be
something – both in substance and bill size – that didn’t overshadow a major rewrite of the
nation’s tax and spending laws.

Shortly after Biden and McConnell reached a deal, Senate Majority Leader Reid told staff he
wanted a “clean” farm bill extension – something that wasn’t forthcoming from the ag committee
chairs. With the clock ticking down to a final vote on the larger package, McConnell’s policy
adviser, Neil Chatterjee, huddled with Reid’s legislative assistant, Kasey Gillette, and Speaker
Boehner’s legislative assistant, Natasha Eckard, to hammer out language for a farm bill
extension. Several other House and Senate staff members contributed as they rushed to find
agreement before the current bill expired on midnight Dec. 31.

It was New Year’s Eve, but lawmakers and staff had no time or energy left to celebrate.

“Everyone agreed that we could cut direct
payments from a political standpoint, but because
it was a 10-year ‘pay-for’ on a one-year extension,
we could have easily triggered a budget point of
order – threatening the larger tax and budget
cutting package,” noted a source familiar with the
negotiations. “And no one was willing to blow the
whole fiscal cliff deal over agriculture.”
The three major staffers involved knew the dairy
reform provisions were a non-starter in the House.
During a GOP caucus meeting, Boehner had Former Speaker of the House John
Boehner, R-Ohio, speaks about the farm
publicly criticized the Dairy Security Act’s market Former Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-
Ohio, speaks about the farm bill in 2011 during a
bill in 2011 during a press conference
stabilization language in the farm bill extension press conference after the annual Farm Bill Forum
after the annual Farm Bill Forum he
hosted annually in his home state
package crafted by Lucas, Stabenow and Peterson he hosted annually in his home state
as “Soviet style” supply management provisions.
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