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<DIV><EM>sent by Hilda Diaz Soltero</EM></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face="Gill Sans MT" size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><FONT face=Arial>(Embedded image moved to file: pic11619.jpg)E&E
Daily <BR>
An E&E Publishing Service
<BR>AGRICULTURE: New farm bill funding faces first challenge (Monday,
<BR>June 16, 2008)
<BR>Allison Winter, E&E
Daily reporter
<BR>The farm bill's
investment of billions of dollars of new spending <BR>in conservation and
energy will face its first test this week, as <BR>the agriculture
appropriations markup process begins.
<BR>The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee is scheduled
to <BR>mark up its fiscal 2009 spending measure Thursday. The bill
will <BR>allocate discretionary spending for the Agriculture
Department and <BR>could lay the foundation for the farm bill's mandatory
funds. <BR>
<BR>image removed
<BR>The farm bill that Congress approved last month would invest $4
<BR>billion more in conservation and $1 billion in energy over its
<BR>five-year lifespan. The funding is mandatory, so not
technically <BR>subject to the appropriations process.
<BR>But the spending bill includes much of the technical
assistance <BR>and operations funding that lays the groundwork for
the farm <BR>bill's mandatory programs. And it could
include some limits on <BR>mandatory money.
<BR>Under the GOP-controlled Congress, appropriators regularly
put <BR>limits on mandatory farm bill conservation programs
-- effectively <BR>cutting hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Farm
lobbyists <BR>do not expect to see that process repeated this year.
Subcommittee <BR>Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) has a personal investment
in <BR>maintaining farm bill programs, since she was on the
farm bill <BR>conference committee. Her panel only put limits
on the <BR>Environmental Quality
Incentives Program last year.
<BR>But the panel faces distinct challenges this year. They will
have <BR>to find significantly more money to invest in the "Women,
Infants <BR>and Children" (WIC) program, which gives assistance for
children <BR>and mothers at nutritional risk. WIC could place a
strain on the <BR>overall agriculture budget. The weak economy and
increased food <BR>costs mean that more people are applying for the
program, and it <BR>costs more for USDA to administer.
<BR>WIC is separate from the mandatory food stamps
program and falls <BR>under discretionary spending that
appropriators must find funding <BR>for if they wish to maintain the
program.
<BR>The spending panel has some relief in its budget
allocation. The <BR>302(b) allocations the Appropriations Committee
released on Friday <BR>would give agriculture $20.6 billion -- a significant
step up from <BR>the administration's $18.7 request and the $18.5 billion
it <BR>received last year. The full committee is
scheduled to vote on the <BR>allocations Wednesday.
<BR>But farm lobbyists
say that boost may not be enough to cover WIC <BR>and all of the
other new demands on USDA spending.
<BR>Appropriators also have to find money to pay for the
expanded <BR>workforce to implement the new farm bill
programs. One of the most <BR>important line items for conservation programs is
the <BR>discretionary
"conservation operations" account, which pays for <BR>staff for the
Natural Resources Conservation Service and technical <BR>assistance to help
farmers and landowners come up with
<BR>conservation plans.
<BR>Subcommittee staff have
said the Bush administration's budget <BR>request would
cause a 12 percent reduction in the workforce. <BR>If
appropriators do place spending limits on farm bill
<BR>conservation programs, one of the most vulnerable
programs could <BR>be the Environmental Quality Incentives Program,
according to farm <BR>lobbyists.
<BR>Part of the vulnerability for EQIP is that it has a large pool of
<BR>money from which to draw. It is the second-largest USDA
<BR>conservation program, and it received some of the
biggest funding <BR>increases in the new farm bill. The farm bill budgets
more than <BR>$1.3 billion for EQIP in fiscal 2009. Last year the
program <BR>received $1 billion.
<BR>EQIP
offers cost-share assistance for farmers to implement
<BR>conservation programs on working lands. DeLauro's panel
placed <BR>limits on EQIP last year, keeping it below the
fully authorized <BR>amount in the farm bill.
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>Farm
bill sequel
<BR>As appropriators look for funding to
support the new farm bill, <BR>Congress is still working to make
sure all 15 of its titles are <BR>enacted.
<BR>Lawmakers approved the bill last month and
voted to override the <BR>veto from President Bush. But the printed
version of the act that <BR>went to the White House was missing the trade
title, so that <BR>section of the bill was not legally
enacted. The trade title <BR>oversees international
food aid and a softwood lumber program. <BR>To remedy the
problem created by the missing paperwork, the House <BR>and Senate
approved the entire farm bill again. It is expected to <BR>go to the White
House this week, and Bush plans to veto it upon <BR>his return from
Europe, a spokesman said. Once the bill is vetoed, <BR>the House and Senate will
have to find time in their schedule to <BR>take up the override vote
again.
<BR>USDA has already
started to implement some of the farm bill
<BR>programs in the new law. Agency officials announced last week they <BR>would
start implementing the marketing assistance loan and loan
<BR>deficiency payment provisions in the act.
<BR>Schedule: The markup
is Thursday, June 19, in 2362-A Rayburn. Time <BR>TBA.
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<BR>About E&E Daily
<BR>Environment & Energy Daily (E&E Daily) is written and produced
by <BR>the staff of E&E Publishing, LLC. Designed for policy players
who <BR>need to know what's happening to their issues on Capitol
Hill, <BR>from federal agency appropriations to comprehensive
energy <BR>legislation, E&E Daily is the
place insiders go to track their <BR>environmental and energy
issues in Congress. E&E Daily publishes <BR>daily by 9 a.m.
while Congress is in
session. <BR>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face="Gill Sans MT" size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10">Laurie Davies Adams<BR>Executive Director<BR><B>Pollinator
Partnership </B><BR>423 Washington Street, 5th floor<BR>San Francisco, CA
94111<BR>415-362-1137<BR>LDA@pollinator.org</FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial
color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#0000ff size=4 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="14"><B><A
href="http://www.pollinator.org/">www.pollinator.org</A></B></FONT><FONT lang=0
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PTSIZE="10"></B><BR><A
href="http://www.nappc.org/">www.nappc.org</A><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#000000 size=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="12"><B><I>National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2008. <BR>Beecome
involved at <A
href="http://www.pollinator.org/">www.pollinator.org</A></I></FONT></B></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient <A title="http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007" href="http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007" target="_blank">used cars</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>