The tentative deal was reached after House Republicans agreed to dump new, stricter laws around SNAP, which have been a major bone of contention in their chamber. Bloomberg reports that those provisions will be left out of the final bill. That would reconcile the House bill with the Senate bill, which did not impose new restrictions on SNAP benefits. - New Food EconomyThere’s some detail here, from AgWeb. Conservation Reserve Program acreage will get a little bump from 24 to 27 million. From the article linked above it looks like other major conservation programs will also be at least maintained. As far as what else is or isn’t there for the conservation/environmentalist crowd, like me, we’ll find out.
Update: Traitor Trump has been making triumphant claims. Reality check:
Once again Trump is taking what’s basically an agreement to negotiate and hailing it as a HUGE deal that is definitely 100 percent settled in his favor. In addition to his usual level of bluster, he’s trying to convince a very specific audience here: farmers, a key part of Trump’s base that’s been hit hard by Trump’s trade war. He tweeted Monday morning that “Farmers will be a a very BIG and FAST beneficiary of our deal with China. They intend to start purchasing agricultural product immediately. We make the finest and cleanest product in the World, and that is what China wants. Farmers, I LOVE YOU!”Farmers should be taking note that the amount of U.S. products the White House says China will be buying is “not yet agreed upon,” a real red flag when you’re dealing with Team Trump. Especially since, for all his insistence that “We are dealing from great strength,” it sure looks like Trump wants a deal, any deal. And as we’ve seen, Mr. The Art of the Deal is a crappy dealmaker even when he hasn’t telegraphed to the world how desperate he is. - Daily Kos
Acknowledging that the House failed to pass it's version of the HR 2 Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 because the SNAP provisions weren't tough enough for the Freedom Caucus, makes you wonder if -- out of principle -- they would risk not passing this compromise version during the lame duck.
ReplyDeleteThat said, anyone who is concerned about national debt is probably disappointed that the compromise version expands who is considered a “farm manager". Under a provision added by REPUBLICAN Mike Conaway, a farmer's extended family and their spouses, including "first cousins, nieces, nephews" would become eligible for subsidies. Those subsidies would increase the total amount of subsidies a farm would be eligible for ... and they don't even have to do anything more than participate in a conference call ... that could include people in Wall Street investment offices. This something that some Republicans and Democrats object to ... such as Ron Kind (D-WI-03) "Washington is lavishing huge taxpayer subsidies on millionaires and billionaires, leaving America’s small and family farmers behind. The Farm Bill’s Title I section is an unacceptable misuse of taxpayer dollars, and must be fixed before it leaves conference committee. This is Washington incentivizing poor behavior.”
Congressman Kind has been fighting this battle for over a decade ... I recall him forcing a vote on restricting this ... and it was rejected (in 2007, Ramstad voted with Kind while Bachmann and Kline voted to support subsidies.) I, also, recall Senator Klobuchar co-sponsoring legislation that would have closed loopholes.
And, in case you missed it, Trump's Tariff Bailout program -- USDA’s Market Facilitation Program -- has already paid 1,142 “farmers” in the nation’s 50 largest cities bailout payments though October. Remember that bailout recipients remain eligible to receive commodity subsidies, crop insurance subsidies, and other forms of federal assistance in the new farm bill.
We hear a lot of complaints about "welfare fraud" and the need restrict food assistance programs, but not enough about subsidies benefiting folks (and large corporate farms) that don't get their fingers dirty. For example, billionaire businessman Glen Taylor – the owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves NBA team – received $116,502 in subsidies in 2017. Does Mr. Taylor, No. 350 on the Forbes 400 list, really need taxpayer funding for his egg and dairy farm in Iowa?