11/29/05 Remaining issues for consideration

11/29/05 Remaining issues for consideration

It is a long Thanksgiving recess for members of Congress. The House does not return to business until December Sixth, while the Senate does not reconvene until December Twelfth. But when they return to session, it may be a long drawn out conclusion to the end of the year. The reason is unresolved issues pertaining to the 2006 federal budget deficit reduction, some of which have ties to agriculture. When we last left Congress before Thanksgiving recess, the House had passed an almost $50 billion dollar deficit reduction plan which included $3.7 billion in cuts to farm and food programs, and the Senate adopted a $35 billion dollar spending reduction plan with cuts of around $3 billion to ag based programs. And according to Senate Ag Chair Saxby Chambliss, resolving differences between the House and Senate budget reconciliation plans won't be easy. CHAMBLISS: We have a difference in food stamps. We have a difference in the M.I.L.C. program. We have differences in whether or not to reduce outlays in commodities. So these are going to be tough negotiations, but at the end of the day, I am very confident that Congressman Goodlatte and I will be able to come up with an agreement. Chambliss notes that the House voted to cut food stamp spending and not extend the M.I.L.C. program, while the Senate keeps food stamp spending at current levels and offers a two year extension to the M.I.L.C. program. However, the call by the Bush Administration to cut spending has to be balanced with emergency disaster relief. And Chambliss is quick to point out there will be some debate whether to make such relief exclusive to victims of recent Gulf Coast hurricanes, or expand it to cover other disasters of the last year. CHAMBLISS: What kind of disaster package are we going to put forward to our friends in the Gulf Coast area, as well as the Mid West. And we'd been working very closely with Chairman Cochran, and are getting close to finalizing a package that will provide some relief to our friends who are farmers and ranchers in that part of the world. So where might a compromise be? Mark Maslen of the American Farm Bureau Federation says his money is on a reconciliation package that more resembles the Senate measure. MASLEN: The House took about a billion dollars or so out of nutrition programs and given the politics of the House right now. The difficulty they had pushing a budget bill through. My sense is that the politics will drive it a little bit more towards the Senate version, probably more out of commodity programs, and less out of nutrition.
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