[Pollinator] New farm bill funding faces first challenge

[Ladadams at aol.com]

sent by Hilda Diaz Soltero
 
(Embedded image moved to file: pic11619.jpg)E&E  Daily              
An E&E Publishing Service  
AGRICULTURE: New farm bill funding faces first challenge  (Monday,  
June 16, 2008)                    
Allison Winter, E&E  Daily reporter                   
The farm bill's  investment of billions of dollars of new spending  
in conservation and  energy will face its first test this week, as  
the agriculture  appropriations markup process begins.             
The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee is scheduled  to  
mark up its fiscal 2009 spending measure Thursday. The bill  will   
allocate discretionary spending for the Agriculture  Department and 
could lay the foundation for the farm bill's mandatory  funds.      

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The farm bill that Congress approved last month would invest $4   
billion more in conservation and $1 billion in energy over its   
five-year lifespan. The funding is mandatory, so not  technically   
subject to the appropriations process.      
But the spending bill includes much of the technical  assistance    
and operations funding that lays the groundwork for  the farm       
bill's mandatory programs. And it could  include some limits on     
mandatory money.       
Under the GOP-controlled Congress, appropriators regularly  put     
limits on mandatory farm bill conservation programs  -- effectively 
cutting hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Farm  lobbyists  
do not expect to see that process repeated this year.  Subcommittee 
Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) has a personal investment  in     
maintaining farm bill programs, since she was on the  farm bill     
conference committee. Her panel only put limits  on the             
Environmental Quality  Incentives Program last year.               
But the panel faces distinct challenges this year. They will  have  
to find significantly more money to invest in the "Women,  Infants  
and Children" (WIC) program, which gives assistance for  children   
and mothers at nutritional risk. WIC could place a  strain on the   
overall agriculture budget. The weak economy and  increased food    
costs mean that more people are applying for the  program, and it   
costs more for USDA to administer.      
WIC is separate from the mandatory food stamps  program and falls   
under discretionary spending that  appropriators must find funding  
for if they wish to maintain the  program.                     
The spending panel has some relief in its budget  allocation. The   
302(b) allocations the Appropriations Committee  released on Friday 
would give agriculture $20.6 billion -- a significant  step up from 
the administration's $18.7 request and the $18.5 billion  it        
received last year. The full committee is  scheduled to vote on the 
allocations Wednesday.          
But farm lobbyists  say that boost may not be enough to cover WIC   
and all of the  other new demands on USDA spending.             
Appropriators also have to find money to pay for the  expanded      
workforce to implement the new farm bill  programs. One of the most 
important line items for conservation programs is  the              
discretionary  "conservation operations" account, which pays for    
staff for the  Natural Resources Conservation Service and technical 
assistance to help  farmers and landowners come up with           
conservation plans.              
Subcommittee staff have  said the Bush administration's budget      
request would  cause a 12 percent reduction in the workforce.       
If  appropriators do place spending limits on farm bill         
conservation programs, one of the most vulnerable  programs could   
be the Environmental Quality Incentives Program,  according to farm 
lobbyists.                 
Part of the vulnerability for EQIP is that it has a large pool of   
money from which to draw. It is the second-largest USDA       
conservation program, and it received some of the  biggest funding  
increases in the new farm bill. The farm bill budgets  more than    
$1.3 billion for EQIP in fiscal 2009. Last year the  program        
received $1 billion.        
EQIP  offers cost-share assistance for farmers to implement       
conservation programs on working lands. DeLauro's panel  placed     
limits on EQIP last year, keeping it below the  fully authorized    
amount in the farm bill.        


Farm  bill sequel                      
As appropriators look for funding to  support the new farm bill,    
Congress is still working to make  sure all 15 of its titles are    
enacted.         
Lawmakers approved the bill last month and  voted to override the   
veto from President Bush. But the printed  version of the act that  
went to the White House was missing the trade  title, so that       
section of the bill was not legally  enacted. The trade title       
oversees international  food aid and a softwood lumber program.     
To remedy the  problem created by the missing paperwork, the House  
and Senate  approved the entire farm bill again. It is expected to  
go to the White  House this week, and Bush plans to veto it upon    
his return from  Europe, a spokesman said. Once the bill is vetoed, 
the House and Senate will  have to find time in their schedule to   
take up the override vote  again.                     
USDA has already  started to implement some of the farm bill         
programs in the new law. Agency officials announced last week they 
would  start implementing the marketing assistance loan and loan     
deficiency payment provisions in the act.           
Schedule: The markup  is Thursday, June 19, in 2362-A Rayburn. Time 
TBA.         
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About E&E Daily             
Environment & Energy Daily (E&E Daily) is written and produced  by  
the staff of E&E Publishing, LLC. Designed for policy players  who  
need to know what's happening to their issues on Capitol  Hill,     
from federal agency appropriations to comprehensive  energy         
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Laurie Davies Adams
Executive Director
Pollinator  Partnership 
423 Washington Street, 5th floor
San Francisco, CA  94111
415-362-1137
LDA at pollinator.org

_www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 

_www.nappc.org_ (http://www.nappc.org/) 

National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2008. 
Beecome  involved at _www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 



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