The 2007 Farm Bill is becoming less about farmers and more about urban issues, a congressman told those attending the 21st annual Beef Fest this morning.
Kansas First Congressional District Rep. Jerry Moran spoke about the bill at the Lyon County Fairgrounds to a large group of Beef Fest participants. The bill has successfully passed the House but hasn’t had much activity in the Senate yet, Moran said.
He said the bill likely will come up this fall and, in the event it is not passed, the 2002 Farm Bill likely will be extended until an agreement on the 2007 Farm Bill is reached.
Moran said he has written an editorial to newspapers in his district entitled “Are we Losing the Farm in the Farm Bill?”
“I worry that the role of the farm is being understated,” Moran told the group this morning.
Moran said the commodity safety net built into the bill for farmers was decreased from the 2002 figure of 28 percent to 12 percent in the 2007 Farm Bill. Although the safety net for farmers was decreased, funding to food stamps and nutrition program was increased from 54 percent to 68 percent in the new bill.
“You see the ag side of the Farm Bill diminishing and see an increase in the nutrition side,” Moran said.
Moran also talked about country of origin labeling of beef, which was written into the 2002 Farm Bill. Country of origin labeling is a three-label system that identifies where beef was born, raised and slaughtered.
“My opinion is that the days of delaying country of origin labeling are over,” Moran said. “The good news is that we make it clear that the country of origin can be done with existing records.”
Moran said the U.S. Department of Agriculture likely won’t come up with rules and regulations for the country of origin labeling system until it sees what happens with the 2007 Farm Bill.
The House version of the farm bill became a partisan issue, Moran added.
“The bill was somewhat hijacked after it left the ag committee,” he said. “It became a much more urban-suburban bill after it left the ag committee.”
During the question-and-answer session of Moran’s speech, one person asked whether it was likely that the president would veto the farm bill.
“I think the president wants to veto the Farm Bill,” Moran said, adding that the president’s advisors have told him that he could score political points by vetoing the bill. “The president has more leverage than I want (him) to have. I think that threat is real.”
The last question was simple: Why are we calling it a “Farm Bill” when so little actually goes to farmers.
“There are phrases that would mean a lot more to the public than the ‘farm bill,’” Moran answered. “There’s never any real discussion about how little goes to the farmers.”