'Farm Bill Negotiators Regroup After Latest Setback And Ethanol Subsidy Cut Plan'
(CQ Today) -- After a contentious meeting with House farm bill conferees, Senate negotiators huddled Friday morning to discuss how they’ll craft a new offer before a week-long extension of current law expires. In an effort to win over their House counterparts, the Senate conferees will offer to scale back $2.5 billion in new tax credits they have been seeking for conservation and alternative energy to $1.8 billion, a Democratic aide close to the negotiations said. The financing package for the new five-year farm bill (HR 2419), with its mix of tax breaks and offsets, has been the major sticking point in House-Senate negotiations that have dragged on for months. House conferees have balked at going more than $10 billion above the bill’s budget baseline, which is $560 billion over 10 years. After swapping proposals on how to pay for extra spending in the farm bill, House and Senate lawmakers said Thursday that they were not much closer to a deal. “Let’s just say it didn’t go well,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. The top House-Senate conferees were meeting again Friday, and they were under intense pressure to show more progress. The existing extension of the 2002 farm law expires at midnight. The Senate on Thursday sent President Bush a new one-week extension (HR 5813), but both the administration and leading Senate Republicans have made clear they will not agree to any additional short-term extensions beyond that one. Thursday’s session broke down after House conferees rejected senators’ proposals to pay for their plan by trimming the ethanol tax credit from 54 cents per gallon to 46 cents per gallon and limiting the amount farmers can claim as losses on their taxes, among other options. House negotiators objected that the tax credits would expire in a few years, meaning Congress would have to find another way to pay for them eventually — no easy task in an era of tight federal budgets.
(CQ Today) -- After a contentious meeting with House farm bill conferees, Senate negotiators huddled Friday morning to discuss how they’ll craft a new offer before a week-long extension of current law expires. In an effort to win over their House counterparts, the Senate conferees will offer to scale back $2.5 billion in new tax credits they have been seeking for conservation and alternative energy to $1.8 billion, a Democratic aide close to the negotiations said. The financing package for the new five-year farm bill (HR 2419), with its mix of tax breaks and offsets, has been the major sticking point in House-Senate negotiations that have dragged on for months. House conferees have balked at going more than $10 billion above the bill’s budget baseline, which is $560 billion over 10 years. After swapping proposals on how to pay for extra spending in the farm bill, House and Senate lawmakers said Thursday that they were not much closer to a deal. “Let’s just say it didn’t go well,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. The top House-Senate conferees were meeting again Friday, and they were under intense pressure to show more progress. The existing extension of the 2002 farm law expires at midnight. The Senate on Thursday sent President Bush a new one-week extension (HR 5813), but both the administration and leading Senate Republicans have made clear they will not agree to any additional short-term extensions beyond that one. Thursday’s session broke down after House conferees rejected senators’ proposals to pay for their plan by trimming the ethanol tax credit from 54 cents per gallon to 46 cents per gallon and limiting the amount farmers can claim as losses on their taxes, among other options. House negotiators objected that the tax credits would expire in a few years, meaning Congress would have to find another way to pay for them eventually — no easy task in an era of tight federal budgets.
