Committee Approves Rural Development, Research

Nov. 8, 2001

The Senate Agriculture Committee gave preliminary approval to two more titles of a new omnibus farm bill, amid continued uncertainty about how the panel would craft commodity and conservation provisions that would attract majority support. During the markup, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) continued his criticism of various new mandatory spending programs in the bill prepared by Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA). Among the mandatory programs – those whose funding is structured as an entitlement – is a new initiative to preserve old barns, Cochran said.

Harkin said he hopes to conclude the committee's action next week, with markup sessions scheduled for Tuesday and succeeding days. Most observers outside the committee, though, believe that no single commodity program proposal now has the support of a majority of the 21 Senators on the committee. Several Senators, notably Sen. Blanche Lambert Lincoln (D-AR), have expressed concern that too much of the available mandatory funding is being devoted to purposes other than commodity programs. But Harkin defended his approach yesterday, saying "this committee is not just a commodity committee."