Listening to the chairmen of the Senate and House Agriculture Committees, it seems as though the two haven't talked a lot lately --- even though both are talking with Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner. Tom Harkin and Collin Peterson certainly haven't begun to come to terms with each other on the different financing packages in their two bills.
Peterson, D-Minn., has talked to myself and others, making the point that House members and the administration don't like how the Senate came up with its budget offsets, and it's just not going to fly, he said. Peterson said he had met with House Ways and Means Committee members this past week.
"Last week I met with Ways and Means and they do not like the Senate offsets ... One Ways and Means Committee members, who will remain unnamed, told me that when he saw the Senate Finance Committee offsets, he though they were not serious about passing a farm bill," Peterson told Informa Economic farm-bill guru Jim Wiesemeyer earlier this week.
Harkin, D-Iowa, talking to reporters on Thursday, said the Senate had broad support for its financing proposals, unlike the House, so it seems logical that the administration would be more willing to go along with the Senate's financing package rather than the House's version, which was resoundingly rejected by House Republicans.
"I just hope there aren't any real, totally inflexible positions taken by the administration on some of these revenues," Harkin said. "I think some of these revenues we came up with in the Senate are much more widely acceptable than they did in the House. I think anyone would say that."
So we have the two committee chairmen in this negotiating process clearly divided on their positions. Yet, both also are attempting to talk with the administration separately, rather than come to terms and negotiate as one unified voice for congressional Democrats on the farm bill.
Conner, meanwhile, has been going around letting everyone know that neither financing package approved by the House nor the Senate is acceptable to the administration. And it has been made clear to everyone involved now that Conner speaks for the administration on the farm bill. The administration's main point: any tax increase is a non-starter.
All of this public budget debate makes Saturday a little more interesting. Conner, Harkin and Peterson will all have their first forum together on the farm bill on Saturday at the Pheasants Forever Pheasant Fest meeting in St. Paul, Minn. The Pheasant Fest folks are interested in the conservation programs, and it will be worth noting just how close or distant these three are on the conservation title of the farm bill.DTNAg
