Page 42 - Farm Bill Series_The 7 Things You Should Know

This year, USDA expects farm payments to total $12.4 billion, and that includes $3.3 billion in
conservation benefits.

House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas, has not ruled out getting more money
allocated for the farm bill. “We’ll see. We’re going to put our case out there,” he said.
But he’s also arguing that the slump in the U.S. farm economy and recent reductions in cost
estimates for the 2014 farm bill are making the case that farm programs should not be cut. After
peaking in 2013, net farm income is projected to fall
this year to its lowest level since 2002, when adjusted
for inflation.

“We’re going to argue that further cuts are not
warranted, further cuts are not appropriate in this
arena. But I don’t get to make that decision by
myself,” Conaway said.

It likely comes down to this: Lawmakers will
probably be forced to eliminate or cut some programs
in order to sweeten others or to create new ones.

But all that could change, if the Trump
administration and Congress decide
that the downturn in the farm economy
justifies giving the Agriculture
committees some more money.

It hasn’t always been this hard. In fact,
lawmakers went into the last three farm
bills knowing they had some extra
sources of money in hand, either
outside or within the bill, to address
demands for new spending. Here are
some examples:

The 2002 farm bill: Money to
burn. When George W. Bush became
president, the same year the 1996 Freedom to Farm law was set to expire, he and Congress
seemed to have money to burn. In the 1990s, the combination of tax increases, economic growth
and federal spending restraint had turned government deficits into annual surpluses.

Republican leaders were eager to spend down the surplus, and the Agriculture committees were
happy to help. The new farm bill that was eventually enacted in May 2002 mandated $51.7
billion in additional spending over six years, beyond the March 2002 baseline. The new spending
included $37.6 billion for commodity programs and $9.2 billion for conservation.
The 2008 farm bill: Democrats pony up. Going into the 2008 debate, it appeared that the
Agriculture committees would be headed into a budget squeeze something like this year, when

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