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.