WASHINGTON - Lawmakers will need strong support from U.S. farm groups to challenge President George W. Bush's plan to shift federal animal and plant protection programs to the proposed Homeland Security Department, three lobbyists said.
The proposed transfer of the U.S. Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency (APHIS) is meeting with resistance from some farm groups who say the agency is crucial to the USDA's oversight of domestic crops and livestock. Senate and House lawmakers from farm states have said little publicly about the president's proposal. Lobbyists said Capitol Hill has privately encouraged farm groups to look closely at the homeland agency and to speak up if they see problems.
"They need the political cover," said one agribusiness official who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said the proposal to put APHIS into the Homeland Security department might damage U.S. trade promotion.
APHIS performs a wide range of chores - from overseeing treatment of circus animals to combating outbreaks of plant diseases such as citrus canker and the well-known "beagle brigade," which helps inspect travelers and cargo at U.S. airports.
Some of those functions - particularly research and suppression of domestic pests-could easily get overlooked in a massive department dedicated to border security, some farm officials fear.
Farm groups were not unified on the issue of APHIS' fate.
Some want to keep APHIS in the Agriculture Department, said one lobbyist. Other grower groups would accede to the transfer of APHIS's border protection duties if the rest of the agency stayed within the USDA, he said.
"I'm not interested in jumping in front of a moving train," the lobbyist said, referring to the president's overwhelming popularity and demands for stronger security following the Sept. 11 attacks.
HEARING ON WEDNESDAY
The first opportunity to gauge farm-sector sentiment was expected to be a House Agriculture Committee hearing scheduled for Wednesday to review the homeland security agency.
The proposed Cabinet agency would have 170,000 employees drawn from dozens of federal agencies, including APHIS, that it would absorb.
So far, Capitol Hill comment has been muted and has tended to be directed toward procedural or jurisdictional points.
For example, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, has asked who would oversee an animal disease laboratory in Ames, Iowa, that are jointly run by APHIS and the USDA's Agricultural Research Service. The labs have played a prominent role in assuring exotic livestock diseases do not enter the country but also work on domestic problems.
The reach of APHIS extends to some border issues far removed from national security.
Staff workers with the Appropriations Committee noted that APHIS sometimes fumigates U.S. logs being exported to other nations.
House Republican leaders were solidly behind the creation of the new department and reportedly have said there was no point in objections or opposition.
But one lobbyist said the proposal was assembled without consulting lawmakers, so they would be justified if they wanted to take a hand in it.
Last week, a coalition of more than 40 farm groups signed a letter asking the creation of the Homeland Security Department not undermine animal and plant protection programs.
The coalition, formed shortly after Bush's June 6 proposal, sent a seven-page letter to the White House and Congress listing APHIS responsibilities it was concerned may be weakened under a new department.
These include regulating new genetically modified crops, issuing farm export certificates, and efforts to eradicate agriculture diseases currently in the country.
State farm regulators also oppose moving APHIS.
On June 7, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture said transferring APHIS to the new department "could actually have the unintended consequence of diminishing our biosecurity efforts.":
