Combest To Take Committee on the Road

February 11, 2000

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) will take his panel members on the road in March, April and May to 10 cities for hearings on farm policy. At a news conference Thursday, Combest also said the Clinton Administration’s proposal for supplementing farmers’ incomes in lean years doesn’t go far enough.

The income assistance portion of the administration’s fiscal 2001 budget proposal is "very small," said Combest, considering that Congress approved $9 billion last year. "I’m glad they’re doing something," he added, "although it’s woefully short." Combest refused to put a price tag on what he thought should be proposed but said the total would depend on expected prices and production outlook later in the year.

Supplementing farmers’ payments under the 1996 farm law probably is the "most efficient and fastest way to go," he said. He also would not rule out raising loan rates for the major crops.

Although he considered the administration’s $1.3 billion additional conservation proposal "positive to farmers," Combest said "the worst situation" must be addressed first, and that was the probable need for more farmer income assistance.

The full committee will hold hearings March 6 in Lubbock, TX, March 17 in Memphis, TN, and March 18 in Auburn, AL. Additional hearings, not yet scheduled, will be held in Kutztown, PA; Raleigh, NC; West Chester, OH; Peoria, IL; Sioux Falls, SD; Boise, ID, and Sacramento, CA.

Combest said he would insist that those testifying at the hearings be "specific" in what they propose, and "we don’t want four people saying the same thing." He said he seeks a consensus from farmers, lenders and others with interest in the issues that the committee can use in drafting farm policy legislation.

He admitted timing would be crucial this year. With recesses scheduled for various spring holidays, the Fourth of July and the long August absence from Washington, it will be a "juggling act" to determine farmers’ needs in time to get legislation approved. "The later we can be (in determining income needs), the better," he said, but that could push legislation close to the end of the fiscal year (Sept. 30) and the need to adjourn well in advance of the November elections.