Ag committee rejects crop insurance cuts

Posted October 29, 2015

House Agriculture Committee members state there will be no cuts to the crop insurance program in the upcoming budget, according to an AgWeb article available here. High Plains Journal also published an article available here.

“Leadership has heeded our concerns by agreeing to completely reverse this disastrous provision in the upcoming omnibus,” said Michael Conaway in a prepared statement. “Crop insurance is working as intended, and private industry deserves to be lauded, not thrown under the bus.”

The budget proposal called for capping the rate of return on earned premiums at 8.9% for crop insurers for 2017-2016. It would have saved the federal government an estimated $3 billion, but potentially hurt the viability of the federal crop insurance program and the financial health of the crop insurance industry.

Agriculture Committee Chairmen Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, and Rep. K. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, and Ranking Members Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, and Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minnesota, stood united against reopening the 2014 farm bill to further cuts, according to High Plains Journal.

“Farmers and ranchers have done more than their fair share to reduce government spending,” said Chairman Roberts.

“To target the No. 1 priority for producers with additional cuts will undermine the delivery of this important protection for agriculture. While congressional leaders may sell this package as providing budget stability, it is anything but stable for farmers and ranchers. It took years to negotiate and pass a new farm bill. Producers have signed contracts and purchased policies. These proposals to make further cuts to the crop insurance program were not included in the House or Senate passed budgets, in any appropriations bills or in the president’s budget request. Once again, our leaders are attempting to govern by backroom deals where the devil is in the details. I will continue to oppose any attempts to cut crop insurance funding or to change crop insurance program policies.” 

After the House, the spending bill goes to the Senate, where the Senate Agriculture Committee leaders have also vowed to protect the crop insurance program, according to AgWeb.

"We hope Senate Leadership finds a path forward soon to ensure these cuts are not realized," said the Crop Insurance Reinsurance Bureau, National Crop Insurance Service and American Association of Crop Insurers said in a joint statement.

"Today's action shows that crop insurance is truly the centerpiece of agricultural risk management and rural America is willing to fight to maintain the crop insurance program. Crop insurers remain committed to providing superior service to our customers--America's farmers--who desperately need risk management tools to deal with today's extreme weather and falling crop prices."

For more information on crop insurance programs, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.

ND Voted to Lift Corporate Dairy Farming Ban

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Posted March 19, 2015

House lawmakers voted to relax North Dakota’s anti-corporate farming law, which could set the precedent for non-family corporations to own dairy and swine operations for the first time in 83 years, according to a Prairie Business article available here. Inforum also published the article here and Grand Forks Herald here.

North Dakota Farmers Union President Mark Watne condemned the vote and issued a statement that accused legislators of “ignoring the majority of North Dakotans who want farmland ownership and agricultural production to be in the hands of families making a living off the land.”

Rep. Dennis Johnson, R-Devils Lake, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, stressed that North Dakota is one of nine states with anti-corporate farming laws and the only state without a livestock exemption.

Johnson said the bill would encourage investment in the state’s struggling swine and dairy industries while also benefiting grain farmers by providing fertilizer and additional markets for their crops.

“We could do nothing and watch them fade away. But I think we have an opportunity here to try and help them.”

The House voted 56-37 to approve amended Senate Bill 2351, after the Senate first passed the bill 27-18 last month.

If the Senate agrees to the House amendments, the bill will go to Gov. Jack Dalrymple for his signature.

For more information on corporate farming laws, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.

Bigger Subsidies Projected Under Farm Bill Program

Posted March 10, 2015

The new farm programs for grain and oilseed farmers will pay them up to $7 billion annually over the next few years, according to an Agri-Pulse available here. Politico also published an article available here.

The Congressional Budget Office and the University of Missouri's Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) that provides analysis to the congressional agriculture committees prepared the forecasts.

Corn growers will receive the lion's share of payments, due to the sharp decline in market prices over the past two years.

CBO projects that total payments to corn and soybean producers from Agricultural Risk Coverage alone will be $3.37 billion in fiscal 2017, according to Politico.

With corn and soybeans enjoying record prices while the rest of the country struggled under the Great Recession, the House and Senate Agriculture Committees developed two substitute programs more sensitive to real needs and market changes.

ARC had an early-in, early-out approach, intended to buy time for a farmer to adjust to markets falling. The second program, Price Loss Coverage or PLC, followed the more traditional target price approach, slower to trigger but then defining a more permanent floor for producers.

Farmers have until the end of this month to sign up for one of the programs, according to Agri-Pulse.

Sixty percent of wheat growers nationwide are expected to choose PLC, while most soybean growers will choose ARC.

After 2018, ARC payments will decline dramatically as the five-year moving average begins to reflect the drop in commodity prices. FAPRI economists estimate that ARC payments will drop from $3.1 billion in fiscal 2018 to $1.8 billion in 2019 and then to $1.2 billion the following year.

For more information on commodity programs, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.

Anti-Corporate Farming Bill Reaches ND Ag Committee

Posted March 4, 2015

The North Dakota House Agriculture Committee will vote on the proposed changes to the state’s anti-corporate farming law, according to a Grand Forks Herald article available here. AgWeek also published an article available here.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Dennis Johnson, R-Devils Lake, said that SB 2351 is scheduled at 8 a.m. March 5 in the Brynhild Haugland Room. Johnson expects the committee to work toward a vote on March 6 and that it will go to the floor as early as March 9 or 10.

The bill is probably the most contentious of any agriculture bills remaining and both sides are likely to “double down” in the House debate, according to Johnson.

SB 2351 would allow non-family corporations to own and operate dairy and swine farms, and would allow each farm to own or control up to 640 acres of farmland, according to AgWeek.

The North Dakota Farmers Union (NDFU) have released a poll that revealed 75 percent of North Dakotans would vote against the bill, if given a chance.

The NDFU sponsored the poll, and DFM Research of St. Paul conducted phone interviews of 400 North Dakotans.

Approximately 86 percent of respondents said they thought the state’s agriculture economy is best left in the hands of farmers. The poll has a 5 percent margin of error.

Mark Watne, NDFU president, said the poll reflects his organization’s “long-held belief that when it comes to production agriculture, family farmers and ranchers should be the ones who farm and own the land in North Dakota, not corporations.”

The poll also identified respondents by political party with 39 percent Republican, 26 percent Democrat, and 34 percent Independent.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Joe Miller, R-Park River, predicts the bill will pass and will be signed by the governor, according to Grand Forks Herald.

“It’s logical to make this move because it’s the only notable barrier, in the law anyway,” said Miller. “I don’t look at it as discriminatory legally because these two operations are similar in how they care for animals, in enclosed situations, where a (cattle) feedlot is much more open.”

For more information on corporate farming laws, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.

WOTUS Joint Committee Hearing Set for Feb 4

Posted January 26, 2015

The House and Senate committees have set a joint Feb. 4 hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed Clean Water Act rule, according to an Agri-Pulse article available here. WNAX also published an article available here.

The joint hearing involves the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Senate Ag Committee Chairman Pat Roberts is also conferring with Environment Chairman James Inhofe on the issue, according to WNAX.

Administration officials hope the rule finalizes this spring, would re-define what streams, ponds, ditches and other areas fall under the Clean Water Act's jurisdiction as waters of the United States (WOTUS), according to Agri-Pulse.

Last fall the House voted 262-152 to approve a bill that would have killed the rule, but the legislation never advanced in the Senate, which was then controlled by Democrats.

For more information on the Clean Water Act, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.

Committee Delays Mega Farm Bill Vote

Posted January 13, 2015

The Indiana Senate Agriculture Committee delayed a bill vote that would give the state more power deciding the fate of confined animal feeding, according to an IndyStar article available here. The Shelbyville News also published an article available here and The Republic here.

State Sen. Jean Leising's Senate Bill 249 would “prevent a county, municipality or township from adopting an ordinance, resolution, rule, policy or other requirement that prohibits building any livestock structure, so long as it's to be built in an area zoned for agriculture and the operator follows state laws.”

Senate Bill 249 is under scrutiny over concerns it will eliminate local authority, according to Shelby News.

“I have been one of the strongest defenders of local government in the statehouse,” said Sen. Leising.

Sen. Leising stated that the bill addresses the concerns that many counties have taken local action to prevent the construction of livestock buildings, according to The Republic.

County commissioners are concerned the bill will set a precedent, according to Shelby News.

“They want to make sure these decisions continue to reside where they have historically, and that's at the local level,” said lobbyist William Moreau.

For more information on farm bills, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.

Stabenow to Create Foreign Acquisitions Legislation

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Posted September 17, 2014

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow is developing new legislation to change how the government reviews foreign investors’ purchases of American companies, according to an U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee release available here. Farm Futures also published an article available here and Politico here.

Stabenow’s concerns were voiced during a PBS Newshour Investigation highlighting the acquisition of Virginia-based Smithfield Foods by Shuanghui International, which would be the largest American company purchase by China.

“Food security is national security,” said Stabenow in the report available here. “And I can’t imagine that the American people will feel comfortable if they wake up someday and find that half of our food processors are owned by China. And I think there are some very, very tough questions that need to be answered.”

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. approved the sale even with concerns from the agriculture industry, according to Farm Futures.

Stabenow was “relatively skeptical” of the situation.

"I'm all about exports, I want to see us export our products but it seems to me removing the unfair barriers from China would be a lot quicker and more efficient than saying the only way they can get in is if they own our company. That just doesn't make sense to me," said Stabenow.

For more information, the two-part PBS Newshour investigation is available here.

For more information on international law and organizations, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.

 

Stabenow Awarded WFP's Highest Honor

Posted September 12, 2014

Debbie Stabenow, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman, was awarded the World Food Program USA's McGovern-Dole Leadership Award, according to an Agri-Pulse article by Daniel Enoch available here.

The award is the highest honor for Stabenow’s global effort to fight hunger and provide aid to those in need.

“A new program established by Senator Stabenow - just a few words of text in the bill - will have a transformative impact,” said Rick Leach, president and CEO of World Food Program USA. “Now we can buy food from small-scale farmers, who often suffer from hunger, to feed children in school. Through this effort, we can lift the first group out of hunger and extreme poverty while providing hope and opportunity for the second.”

Stabenow was honored to be an award recipient.

“This award means so much to me because I know the World Food Program travels to the ends of the earth - literally - to deliver food and supplies to men, women and children. Deliveries that may be the difference between life and death,” said Stabenow.

“As Americans, we are compelled to help alleviate global hunger because it's simply the right thing to do. It's also the smart thing to do. International aid is more than a Band-Aid - it's a building block to create stronger economies around the world. Food security is a stabilizing force in destabilized regions. By fighting global hunger and strengthening local agricultural economies, we are enhancing global security.”

For more information about the World Food Program, please visit their website here.

For more information on farm bills and disaster programs, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here and here.

Stabenow to Conduct Committee Hearing July 23

Posted July 23, 2014

Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, will convene a Committee hearing on Wednesday, July 23 at 9:30 a.m., according to a press release. Wisconsin Ag Connection also published the release here.

The hearing will examine school meal programs across the country and where opportunities are present to strengthen these programs to better support America’s school children.

The hearing, “Meeting the Challenges of Feeding America’s School Children,” will convene on Wednesday, July 23, 2014 at 9:30 a.m. in room 328A of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington D.C. A live webcast of the hearing can be viewed on the Committee’s website here.

For more information on nutrition programs, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.

Stabenow to Convene First Child Nutrition Reauthorization Hearing

Posted June 6, 2014

Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, will convene a hearing as part of the child nutrition reauthorization effort, according to a U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry available here.

The hearing is the first in a series and will take place on Thursday, June 12, 2014 at 10 a.m. in room 328A of the Russell Senate Office Building.

The hearing, A National Priority: The Importance of Child Nutrition Programs to our Nation’s Health, Economy and National Security, will examine how child nutrition programs can help address the challenges facing the nation such as national security, economic vitality, and the health of children and families.

A live webcast of the hearing can be viewed on the Committee’s website here. 

For more information on nutrition programs, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.

House and Senate Negotiators Announce Agreement on Final Farm Bill

Posted January 27, 2014

This evening, negotiators from the U.S. House and Senate announced a bipartisan agreement on a five-year farm bill and released the conference report, according to a press release from the House Agriculture Committee available here.  The conference report is available here.  Agri-Pulse reported on the story here.

The Washington Times reports that the legislation may be up for a vote in the House on Wednesday.

The five-year deal ends direct payments and cuts $8 billion from food stamps.  According to a preliminary 10-year Congressional Budget Office score, the bill will reduce the deficit by about $23 billion.

The legislation also leaves in place the country of origin labeling rule, which some in the meat and poultry industry have criticized. 

Leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees commented on the deal in the press release:

“I am proud of our efforts to finish a farm bill conference report with significant savings and reforms,” said Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK), Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.  “We are putting in place sound policy that is good for farmers, ranchers, consumers, and those who have hit difficult times.  I appreciate the work of everyone who helped in this process…I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting its passage.”

“Today’s bipartisan agreement puts us on the verge of enacting a five-year Farm Bill that saves taxpayers billions, eliminates unnecessary subsidies, creates a more effective farm safety-net and helps farmers and businesses create jobs,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

For more information on farm bills, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.

Looking Forward to a Farm Bill

Posted January 8, 2014

While Congress has been on break for the holidays, key members of the farm bill conference have been working on a compromise farm bill proposal, according to an Agri-Pulse article available here.

While a conference meeting has not been scheduled, sources and reports indicate that conferees are likely to meet this week.  Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said “he expects the farm bill to be completed by the end of the month.” 

Senate Agricultural Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) said that the negotiators are “just tying up loose ends” and “feeling very good about things” going into a full meeting of the House-Senate conference later this week, according to a Politico article available here.

Stabenow said she “fully” expects a formal session to be scheduled in the next few days and hoped that a conference report could be signed, “clearing the way for floor consideration as early as next week.”

Stabenow said, “We just have to get through that conference committee, get the report signed…There’s a desire to get this done by everybody.”

For more information on farm bills, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.

Farm Bill Framework May be Announced This Week

Posted December 10, 2013

After months of negotiations, farm bill conferees are close to a deal that would clear the way for passing a farm bill in January, according to Kyle Potter of the Forum News Service in an article available here.

Minnesota Representative Collin Peterson, one of four top House and Senate negotiators, said the framework of a farm bill deal could be finished before the House adjourns for the year on Friday, making a full vote possible sometime in January.

Peterson said negotiators have agreed on a major issue -- how much to cut from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly referred to as “food stamps.”

The deal would need to be passed by the farm bill’s conference committee before heading to a full vote in the House and Senate. 

On November 5, the Obama administration encouraged House and Senate leaders of the agriculture committees to continue working to finish a farm bill, according to an article by AgWeek available here.  “Negotiations on Capitol Hill about the farm bill should continue until House and Senate leaders reach agreement on a comprehensive bill.  Numerous members of both sides have indicated progress, and the country deserved continued work on this critical legislation,” said Matt Paul, communications director for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) said that finishing a conference report before the House leaves Washington would be “Herculean” but he hoped Congress would not need to approve a one month extension.  Lucas said, “If the members known with certainty, if the U.S. Department of Agriculture knows with certainty that a finished product will be on the floor the first few days in January, I think that probably would reassure everyone involved.”

Peterson also told reporters that an agreement had been reached on the dairy title, but did not reveal any details. 

For more information on farm bills, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.

Senate Names Farm Bill Conferees

Posted October 7, 2013

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced five Republican and seven Democratic Senators to serve as conferees with the U.S. House of Representatives, pushing the farm bill forward, according to a Farm Futures article available here.

The conferees are: Sens. Pat Roberts (R-KS), John Boozman (R-AR), John Hoeven (R-ND), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Max Baucus (D-MT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Debbie Stabenow (D. MI) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry said in a press release, “I’m please that the Senate has once again agreed to go to conference with the House on the Farm Bill and has Re-appointed conferees…The Senate has twice passed a comprehensive, bipartisan Farm Bill that will create jobs, reform agricultural policy and reduce the deficit by tens of billions of dollars.  It’s time to finally get this done.”

Congress has faced criticism from farm groups over the lengthy process of the farm bill reauthorization. 

Danny Murphy, President of the American Soybean Association, said, “Frankly, we’ve run out of ways to say we’re disappointed.”  Murphy expressed concern that without a new law, programs like the Conservation Reserve Program, Market Access Program, Foreign Market Development Program, and the Food for Peace food aid program will be at stake. 

Bob Stallman, President of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said, “Farm Bureau members are deeply concerned over the political challenges that are making it next to impossible for Congress to reach a compromise on important legislation.”  He continued, “Both the House and Senate versions of the farm bill would provide significant savings that could be applied toward reducing the federal debt.”

Industry groups are concerned about the consequences if a farm bill is not reauthorized before the end of the year.  Colin Woodall, Vice President of Government Affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Association, said that Congress has approximately three months to work out a compromise for the farm bill before the real effects start to hit home.

For more information on farm bills, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center's website here.  

GOP Bill Would Ban Use of SNAP Benefits for Junk Food

Posted September 18, 2013

Representative Phil Roe (R-TN) introduced a bill that would ban the use of Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, commonly referred to as food stamps, for junk food, according to a Yahoo News article, available here.

The Healthy Food Choices Act, H.R. 3073, would require that SNAP benefits be used to only purchase healthy foods which are eligible under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, commonly known as the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program.  The text of the bill is available here.

The bill responds to a 2012 study which found that “food stamps enable about $2 billion worth of junk food purchases each year, and that more than half of the beverages bought using SNAP benefits are sugary drinks” according to an article by The Hill, available here. 

The WIC program has strict guidelines and are “made up of several different standards for products like breakfast cereal, milk, vegetables, peanut butter and other food.”  For example, breakfast cereal must contain certain levels of iron, cannot contain more than 21.2 grams of sugar per 100 grams of cereal, and must have whole grain as a primary ingredient. 

Roe stated, “As a physician, I realize the importance of healthy eating, and as an obstetrician, I’ve seen how the WIC program helps empower families receiving assistance to use taxpayer dollars to purchase healthy wholesome foods.  If these guidelines are good and healthy enough for women and children, then SNAP recipients should also benefit from adhering to the same standards.”  The press release from Rep. Roe’s office is available here.

Think Progress reports that anti-hunger advocates oppose the legislation for many reasons including that SNAP benefits, while intended to be “supplemental” often “provides low-income families’ entire monthly food budgets” and they can “typically make them stretch farther when they opt for lower quality groceries.”  The Think Progress article is available here.  These groups advocate for a “more effective policy” like the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) which “gives SNAP recipients a discount on healthier options – for every dollar they spend on healthy food, they earn 30 cents back to spend on other SNAP-eligible items.”

Charitable Agricultural Research Act Introduced in Congress

Posted August 27, 2013

Members of both houses of Congress recently introduced new legislation, the Charitable Agricultural Research Act (CARA).  According to an article by AgChallenge 2050, the legislation is a result of a close working relationship among Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate. 

On July 11, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) introduced the bipartisan, bicameral legislation which is supported by a many co-sponsors representing a range of geographic regions and different constituencies.  The text of the Senate bill, S. 1280, is available here.  The text of the House bill, H.R. 2671 is available here. 

The CARA amends the U.S. Tax Code to allow for the creation of new 501(c)(3) agricultural research organizations.  Organizations which are “directly engaged in the continuous active conduct of agricultural research” in “conjunction with a land-grant college or university” or “a non-land grant college of agriculture” would be eligible for 501(c)(3) status.

This model is similar to medical research organizations, added to the tax code in the mid-1950s to enhance human medical research.  Sen. John Thune (R-SD) said: “In the current tight budget environment Congress needs to enact innovation legislation, such as this bill, which will encourage private donors to help meet shortfalls in agricultural research.”

Senate Majority Leader Reid: Temporary Extension of Farm Bill Not Going To Happen

Posted:  June 24, 2013

In the wake of last week's stunning rejection of the farm bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has stated that "the Senate will not pass another temporary farm bill extension."  A Reuters story about this development is available here.  This is the latest pronouncement in what has been an arduous journey for the farm bill, including not bringing a House-committee passed farm bill up for a full vote in 2012. Most provisions of the farm bill originally expired September 30, 2012 and the path forward to a new, multi-year farm bill is still not entirely clear. 

According to the article, Senator Reid expressed that "If the Speaker "(John Boehner) took up the Senate's bipartisan measure, it would easily pass the House with Republican and Democratic votes."

The failure to pass a new, multi-year farm bill in 2012 marked the first instance in which a farm bill was proposed and passed in the same in the same Congress.  Consequently, both chambers had to start the legislative process all over in the new Congress.  The Senate passed its version of the farm bill on June 10.  The House Agriculture Committee passed its bill, only to see it defeated 234-195 on June 20.

For more information about farm bills, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center website here, including its Farm Bills page, and free-of-charge database of Congressional Research Service Reports.  Another excellent resource for daily updates on the farm bill is Farmpolicy.com, available here.

Chairwoman Stabenow to Convene Oversight Hearing on Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Senator Debbie Stabenow, (D-Mich.), Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, will convene a Committee hearing, "Oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission", on Wednesday, February 27 at 2:30 p.m. EST.  The Committee meeting will be held in Room 328 of the Russell Senate Office Building. The witness list includes Gary Gensler, Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. 

A live webcast of the meeting will be available at http://ag.senate.gov.  Contact person regarding the hearing is Ben Becker, (202) 224-5466/ben_becker@ag.senate.gov.

Chairwoman Stabenow Issues Statement Regarding Sequestration and Elimination of Direct Payment Subsidies

Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, issued the following statement today regarding the announcement by Senate Democratic leadership that agriculture’s direct payment subsidies will be eliminated as part of a larger sequestration package intended to avoid across-the-board spending cuts. The elimination of direct payment subsidies saves $27.5 billion and constitutes the entire non-defense discretionary cuts in the bill.

“The choice facing Congress is to allow drastically irresponsible cuts to hit every part of our budget and cost 750,000 jobs, or to make smart, targeted cuts. Billions in direct payment subsidies are paid out even in good times and for crops farmers aren’t even growing. That’s why an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the Senate voted to eliminate direct payments last year while strengthening support for farmers when they have a loss. Congress needs to come together and cut government waste, rather than cutting job creation, education, and other top priorities.

The released statement adds that, “[o]nce again, it is the Agriculture Committee that is stepping forward with responsible solutions to reduce the deficit.”

Senate Ag Subcommittee Members Named By Chairwoman Stabenow and Ranking Member Cochran

The final subcommittee assignments for the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry have been announced by Chairwoman Stabenow and Ranking Member Cochran.

The subcommittee assignments are as follows:


Subcommittee on Commodities, Markets, Trade and Risk Management

Democrats	Republicans
Donnelly (Chair)	Chambliss (Ranking Member)
Baucus	Roberts
Heitkamp	Boozman
Harkin	Hoeven
Brown	Johanns
Gillibrand	Cochran (ex officio)
Stabenow (ex officio)

Subcommittee on Jobs, Rural Economic Growth and Energy Innovation

Democrats	Republicans
Heitkamp (Chair)	Johanns (Ranking Member)
Brown	Hoeven
Klobuchar	Grassley
Bennet	Thune
Donnelly	Boozman
Cowan	Cochran (ex officio)
Stabenow (ex officio)

Subcommittee on Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Food and Agricultural Research

Democrats	Republicans
Cowan (Chair)	Hoeven (Ranking Member)
Leahy	McConnell
Harkin	Chambliss
Brown	Grassley
Gillibrand	Thune
Bennet	Cochran (ex officio)
Stabenow (ex officio)

Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry and Natural Resources

Democrats	Republicans
Bennet (Chair)	Boozman (Ranking Member)
Harkin	McConnell
Klobuchar	Chambliss
Leahy	Thune
Baucus	Roberts
Heitkamp	Cochran (ex officio)
Stabenow (ex officio)

Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, Marketing and Agriculture Security

Democrats	Republicans
Gillibrand (Chair)	Roberts (Ranking Member)
Leahy	McConnell
Baucus	Boozman
Klobuchar	Johanns
Donnelly	Grassley
Cowan	Cochran (ex officio)
Stabenow (ex officio)