Senate refuses to end debate on farm subsidies

AP Farm WriterWASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate refused to limit debate Wednesday on a bill to expand farm subsidies, effectively killing the Democratic-backed legislation for the year.

It was the third time in three weeks that Democrats had been unable to muster the votes necessary to set a limit on debating the bill, and thus free it for a vote. The vote to end debate was 54-43, six short of the 60 needed.

"We have to move on," said Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. Daschle had warned that he would pull the bill from the Senate floor if the move to cut off debate failed.

The Senate Agriculture Committee chairman, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, accused Republicans of stalling and said the stalemate puts at risk $73.5 billion set aside for farmers in a congressional budget agreement this year.

Farm subsidies "are being held hostage to a game of politics," Harkin said.

Republicans denied the stalling charge. Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said farm legislation would be a top priority of the Senate when it returns from the holiday recess in late January. "We can complete action in due time," he said.

On Tuesday, the Senate rejected an alternative Republican farm bill, 55-40.

All the bills would increase spending on farm programs by nearly 80 percent over the next 10 years and reauthorize farm and nutrition programs through 2006.

The Senate Democratic bill, however, would raise crop subsidies and create a new payment program tied to changes in commodity prices. The GOP bill rejected on Tuesday didn't increase subsidy rates but offered farmers more money in fixed annual payments to go with matching deposits for IRA-style savings accounts.

Democrats said the GOP measure, supported by the Bush administration, provided an inadequate safety net for producers and too little money for conservation.

GOP Sens. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Susan Collins of Maine, Gordon Smith of Oregon, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania voted with Democrats to defeat the Republican bill.

Defeat of the Republican alternative "sends a pretty clear signal of where the votes are" and provides momentum to the Democratic legislation, said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

Even if the Senate were to approve a farm bill this week, Harkin admitted there's probably no time for the House and Senate to negotiate a final version of the legislation before Christmas.

Farm groups say Congress needs to finish work on a bill quickly, because they fear lawmakers will be unwilling to spend as much on agriculture programs after new budget forecasts early next year.

Some Republicans expressed irritation with an intense lobbying campaign by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the nation's largest farm organization and a traditional ally of Republicans. Farm Bureau officials have suggested that Republicans could pay a political price for delaying the farm legislation.

"I've been a Farm Bureau member for 45 years. This is the first time I've seen the Farm Bureau take such a partisan position," said Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican and one of the few farmers in Congress.

Farm Bureau lobbyist Mary Kay Thatcher said, "I don't think we have been partisan. What we have said is move the bill."

------The bill is S.1731.

On the Net:

Senate committee: http://agriculture.senate.gov