020348 Congress Reaches Farm Spending Deal

Washington - With agreements in hand on a broad agricultural spending plan, congressional negotiators say they hope to finish work next month on an overhaul of farm and nutrition programs.

Under the deal, subsidies for grain, cotton and other crops would increase by 70 percent. Spending on conservation programs that subsidize improvements in farm practices and idle environmentally sensitive land would go up by 80 percent. Negotiators also set aside money for restoring food stamp benefits to noncitizens.

Leaders of a House-Senate conference committee issued a statement late Tuesday saying their agreement provides the "needed framework to speed negotiations for early April completion" of a compromise farm bill.

They said the committee expects final decisions on the legislation during public meetings the second week of April.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Congress is fast running out of time to enact new programs that could take effect with this year's crops.

The administration "stands ready to implement a new farm bill this year. ... However, each week that passes make this formidable task ever more challenging," she said.

Lawmakers still must agree on how the money will be spent as well as resolve major differences between the House and Senate on farm policy.

Tuesday's agreement represents a compromise between spending levels contained in bills passed last fall by the House and in February by the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said the deal "puts us one step closer to enacting a bill that corrects the problems" in the 1996 farm law.

Last year's congressional budget plan allowed lawmakers to increase spending for agriculture, conservation and nutrition programs by $73.5 billion over the coming decade.

Tuesday's agreement allows commodity subsidies to rise by $48.6 billion over the 10- year period, or nearly $5 billion annually, a 70 percent increase over existing programs. Money is included to set up a new subsidy program for dairy farms.

Conservation spending would rise by $17.1 billion over the decade.

Environmentalists immediately attacked that number as inadequate. A Senate-passed farm bill would have boosted conservation spending by $21.3 billion. A House bill included a $15.8 billion increase.

"Senate negotiators have cut the programs that benefit the public and most family farmers in order to give billions more to the country's largest cotton and grain farmers," said Scott Faber of the advocacy group Environmental Defense.

The agreement also set aside $6.4 billion to expand the food-stamp program by about 3 percent. That would be enough to restore benefits to noncitizens who have been in the country for at least five years. Other changes would provide small increases in benefits for people already getting food stamps.

"Given the realities of the farm bill, this represents a reasonable compromise," said Ellen Nissenbaum of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

There is additional money earmarked in the agreement for rural development, trade and agricultural research.

The issues still confronting the negotiators include subsidy levels for crops, a Senate- passed ban on meatpacker ownership of cattle and hogs and a Senate-approved limit on the subsidies that individual farms can receive.

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