Farm Bill Gets House Hearing After Senate Panel Approval

Wednesday, May 15th, 2013

The U.S. House Agriculture Committee will debate legislation today to reauthorize farm programs, a day after the Senate panel approved a version that will cost $955 billion over 10 years.

The Senate bill would cut $24.4 billion in spending in the next decade by trimming $4 billion from food stamps, the biggest USDA program, $17 billion in farm subsidies and $3.6 billion in environmental programs the Congressional Budget Office reported. Crop insurance, which is making record payouts after last year’s drought, would rise by $5 billion. The full Senate will take up the bill next week, said Senator Debbie Stabenow, the Michigan Democrat who heads the committee.

Senate and House committee leaders have said they’ll end a program that pays growers of corn, rice and other major crops regardless of market prices, and use some of the savings to insure revenues in less-profitable years. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

“There are significant reforms and consolidations” that save money, Stabenow said yesterday after the committee voted 15-5 for the measure. “I am absolutely confident we will have a strong vote” in the Senate for a new law, she said.

The Senate’s version includes $6.4 billion eliminated through mandatory budget cuts known as sequestration that took effect March 1. Crop subsidies benefiting buyers such as Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM) and food stamps subsidizing purchases at Supervalu Inc. (SVU) are targets for lawmakers seeking to trim the deficit. The House committee’s plan would cost $940 billion over a decade.

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