Key developments in both the domestic and international arenas this past week are likely to have an impact on the future of federal farm policy.
Following on the heels of a $3 billion Senate Agriculture Committee deficit reduction bill, the House Agriculture Committee on Friday passed a similar measure containing $3.7 billion in cuts to federal agricultural spending.
Although both bills contained reductions in direct payments and conservation programs, the House bill included $844 million in cuts to the food stamp program. This provision encountered too much political opposition on the Senate and was not a part of that Committee’s legislation.
Still, each plan will have to be approved by the respective body and then differences will need to be resolved in House Senate conference.
On the international front, the W.T.O. Doha trade negotiations picked up some potential momentum on Friday when the European Union released their counter-offer to a previous U.S. proposal.
However, reaction to the EU’s latest offer was tepid at best.
Saturday’s New York Times noted that, “the proposal came under immediate attack from all directions: from the United States and Brazil for being inadequate and from France for going too far.”
Interestingly, the recent Congressional budget activity and the on-going Doha talks are intertwined.
An editorial in Thursday’s New York Times pointed out that the Senate budget measure contained a provision that “extends the subsidies paid to growers of cotton, rice and other commodities until 2011, subsidies that were supposed to expire in the 2007 farm bill.”
The editorial pointed out that U.S. “trade negotiators say the Senate Agriculture Committee’s move will make their job at the trade organization talks more difficult. It’s hard to preach the free trade gospel abroad when lawmakers at home are busily taking care of their own special interests.”
This is just another reminder of how domestic political activity increasingly has broad ramifications on the world stage.
Keith Good writes The FarmPolicy.com News Summary, an Email newsletter containing a summary of news relating to U.S. farm policy which is published most weekdays. To sign up for this FREE publication, just send an Email to this address.