Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
A congressional turf battle is partly to blame for the slow progress on the new Farm Bill, according to Sen. Chuck Grassley.
Iowa Independent caught up with Grassley Wednesday at Albia Community High School, shortly after the Republican senator spoke to a group of government students.
“Right now one of the major disputes is over the role of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee versus the agriculture committees,” said Grassley. He said House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., is apparently reluctant to cede authority to the tax-writing committees.
“Collin Peterson doesn’t want the Ways and Means Committee involved,” said Grassley. “And I don’t see how we can get a bill through the Senate because we won’t be able to get enough money into the farm program if we don’t do it the way we did it in the Senate.”
Grassley serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee and will be part of the conference negotiations with the House. But his larger role is as the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, where he has been involved with securing the funds for the nearly $288 billion Farm Bill.
“We in the Senate Finance Committee don’t want to be a banker for all the other committees. We’re willing to help the Agriculture Committee but to do it indirectly through setting up programs that we control,” he said. Putting certain programs under the jurisdiction of the Finance Committee would free up funding for the Agriculture Committee, he said.
“I’m sure farmers’ eyes will glaze over when I talk about all of this,” said Grassley. “But the bottom line of it is we’ve got to get over that hurdle. So what we’re trying to do now is we’re trying to see if we can work with the House Ways and Means Committee to get some agreement on programs so we’re all on the same wavelength.”
Grassley said that it’s unlikely that the current Farm Bill will be allowed to expire on March 15 without a new bill in place. That would result in all farm programs reverting back to the permanent law of 1949, a scenario that few farmers would welcome.
“One of two things are going to happen. Either we’re going to get an agreement by March 15, or we’re going to extend the existing law for another year. I don’t think farmers have to worry about being without sort of a safety net,” he said.
Grassley said that other policy disagreements will have to wait until a solution is found to the funding dilemma. One of those policy issues that he’ll be raising in conference committee will involve limiting the ability of wealthy landowners to reap rewards from farm programs. He said there’s still hope that farm-program payment reforms — like he had proposed in the Senate with the failed Dorgan-Grassley amendment — could be included in the Farm Bill.
“I think there’s some hope,” he said. “The White House insisted upon having some payment limitations. So hopefully the White House holds their ground and we make some progress in that direction. Although I think that progress will be short of the Dorgan-Grassley amendment. But it’ll still be better than where we are today.”
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter