Farm Bill Thursday: Negotiations Are Hot and Heavy

<div style="text-align: center"><img src="/files/u2/farmhouse.jpg" title="farm house" alt="farm house" height="125" hspace="3" vspace="3" width="125" /></div>Lots of farm bill news this morning. <a href="http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=15530169-3048-5C12-004007E260BCC4D0" target="_blank">The Politico reports</a>: "Farm Bill negotiations teetered at a make-or-break stage Wednesday after House Democrats and Republicans joined forces to press the Senate to scale back its demands or risk a historic disruption of the current commodity programs next month." The House would like to trim $8 billion from the bill over the next ten years — a proposal that drew praise from the USDA — but the Senate dismissed it. Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, the ranking Republican on the Agriculture Committee, "is furious with the White House-backed payment limits and dismissed the (House) proposal as something that should be 'thrown in the trash barrel.'"<br /><br />The new proposal cuts spending for farm supports, nutrition programs, land conservation and other areas, <a href="http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=cqmidday-000002670519" target="_blank">according to Congressional Quarterly</a>. Good summary, as always, <a href="#more-623" target="_blank">can be found at FarmPolicy.com. <br /></a> <br />Senators are pushing back, more assured than the House that they can override a Bush veto. (The House wants to pass a bill Bush will sign.) <a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i440tH3TeSZXsKhDYs-GYMqnLhXAD8UPPM180 " target="_blank">Meetings continue today.</a>