Hill Heat

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.

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.