06/26/06 Energy aid resurrected in Senate

06/26/06 Energy aid resurrected in Senate

Farm and Ranch June 26, 2006 The U.S. Senate is taking another shot at getting disaster and energy assistance to farm program participants. A four-billion dollar package, similar to the one stripped from an emergency spending bill earlier this month, was included late last week in the 2007 fiscal year agriculture appropriations bill by the full Senate Appropriations Committee. The measure again includes a payment of 30 percent of the 2005 direct payment to help farmers with higher fuel and fertilizer costs. Jennifer Spurgat of the National Association of Wheat Growers, says the full Senate could vote on the spending bill this week and she expects it to pass. Spurgat: "So we expect a good turn out there, but then we go to conference with the House and then it all goes back up in the air again. The House bill did not include any disaster aid and they have been pretty clear, many House members have been pretty clear, that there is not enough money and they would like to keep the number where it is." But this House-Senate conference could be different. Spurgat: "Because the conferees who will be hopefully named to the conference committee will be those folks from the Ag Approps Committee rather than folks who may have been working on defense spending and Katrina money. These are ag appropriators who tend to be more supportive of ag programs." That conference may not occur until September and Spurgat expects fiscally conservative Republicans and the Administration to work against the assistance. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
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