[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 182 (Friday, December 20, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9090-S9091]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          FARM BILL CONFERENCE

  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, while the days are limited before the end 
of 2013, the Farm Bill Conference Committee presses on, working 
together in a bipartisan fashion to resolve differences and to take the 
steps necessary to enact a comprehensive and balanced farm bill. Under 
the leadership of Chairwoman Stabenow and

[[Page S9091]]

Chairman Lucas, it now appears we are on target to complete our work on 
this bill early in the New Year.
  Nonetheless, it has now been more than 440 days since the farm bill 
first expired. Farms are businesses, and farmers in Vermont and across 
the country are desperate to have a new farm bill enacted to give them 
the much-needed certainty for their planting and other farm decisions. 
Since the 2008 farm bill expired last year, we have seen parts of the 
country ravaged by blizzards that wiped out cattle herds while 
commodity prices slump. More than 20 programs, including the Organic 
Certification Cost Share Program, the Beginning Farmer and Rancher 
Development Grant Program, livestock disaster, renewable energy 
programs, and assistance for rural small business owners have been 
stranded without updated charters, and the USDA has had to press the 
pause button since these programs are stuck with no authorized funding. 
Those who participate in these programs are left hanging. That is as 
unwise as it is unfair.
  Last week the House of Representatives quickly took up and passed a 
short-term extension of the farm bill with very little debate and has 
asked the Senate to do the same. I have heard a lot of concern here in 
the Senate that this short, 1-month extension could allow direct 
payment subsidies to continue for another full year. We have already 
agreed on a bipartisan and bicameral basis to get rid of these 
unnecessary and expensive direct payment subsidies to agribusiness, so 
we should not fall into this trap of extending them for a full year. 
That would be unacceptable, and, according to Secretary Vilsack, 
unnecessary.
  Secretary Vilsack has indicated that if Congress completes the farm 
bill in early January, which can be done based on progress we have 
already made, we will not see the negative effects of the expiration of 
the dairy title, and implementation of the law should go smoothly. This 
is a reassuring, positive signal from the Secretary that consumers and 
our dairy farmers will not see the spikes in the cost of milk that we 
had all feared last New Year's Eve.
  Of course, if the House of Representatives really wanted to get a 
farm bill done sooner, they would have kept the House in session this 
week instead of recessing for the year. Instead, they pushed forward a 
counterproductive short-term extension to make it seem that they are 
doing something for farmers. This comes after the House leadership 
spent much of the past 2 years dragging their feet on farm policy and 
reforms, while the Senate has now passed two overwhelmingly bipartisan 
and reform-oriented farm bills.
  While we had first hoped to complete this work in 2012, the farm bill 
was pushed back to 2013, and it will soon become the 2014 farm bill. 
Over the last 2 years, the need for this comprehensive legislation has 
only grown. We have all heard stories from our home States about the 
real impacts caused by the failure of Congress to pass a new farm bill 
and the continued uncertainty for farmers and those who rely on USDA's 
nutrition programs. I regret that far too many hungry and food insecure 
families across America have to wonder whether this most basic 
assistance will still be in place to offer support in the new year. I 
have always been a strong proponent of nutrition assistance programs 
and the doors they open and will continue to oppose drastic and 
draconian cuts and damaging changes to these programs.
  I look forward to returning in January and sitting down with the 
Conference Committee to work through the final details of this bill. We 
cannot delay any longer, and I am pleased that Chairwoman Stabenow and 
Chairman Lucas have come together in a bipartisan way to move the farm 
bill forward. As a past chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, 
and a seven-time farm bill conferee, I know the challenges they have 
faced. I look forward to helping with the final steps in conferencing 
this legislation--a bill that touches every American. Its passage will 
strengthen the Nation and grow our economy.
  The Farm Bill has long stood as a model of bipartisan consensus. I 
look forward to the Senate and House reaching a final bipartisan 
agreement that will move the bill forward to the President's desk.

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