Mary Clare Jalonick, The Associated Press | Posted: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 11:00 pm
|
WASHINGTON - Former Senate leaders Tom Daschle and Bob Dole
suggested Wednesday that the nation's agricultural policy should be
reformed, saying farmers should become more dependent on the
marketplace.
Daschle, a Democrat from South Dakota, and Dole, a Republican
from Kansas, proposed eliminating direct payments to farmers but
retaining countercyclical payments, which pay farmers only when
prices are low.
They also suggested that farmers be encouraged to take part in
emerging markets such as renewable fuels to help them stay
afloat.
The former senators said their proposals could mean a net
savings of $4.68 billion to the U.S. Treasury.
"If we're going to have a farm bill this year, we have to
demonstrate that the farm bill can be written at a reduced cost to
taxpayers," said Daschle, the Senate's top Democrat when Republican
John Thune defeated him in 2004.
Daschle was a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and
played a major role in writing the last six-year farm bill, passed
in 2002. Congress is beginning work on that law's renewal this
year.
Dole also was on the committee before he left the Senate in
1996. Lawmakers need to broaden their perspectives when crafting
farm policy. he said.
"Enabling farmers to access new markets will increase farm
incomes while lowering our existing commodity subsidies," Dole
said.
The former senators also backed a mandatory cap and trade
program designed to reduce greenhouse gases. Such a system would
set limits on greenhouse gas emissions but would let companies not
meeting the cap buy credits from those in compliance.
Cutting down on carbon dioxide emissions, they said, would
make way for the expansion of biofuels. That policy also would
encourage increased use of wind and solar power, which could be
developed on farm and ranch lands.
Other aspects of the proposal:
- Farm benefits would be capped at $250,000 a year for an
individual. They are now capped at $360,000, but loopholes allow
some people to collect millions of dollars above the limit;
- A "robust marketing loan program" that treats all farmers
equally;
- Expansion of law that would require the use of renewable fuels,
improve distribution of those fuels and require more flexible fuel
vehicles;
- Expansion of existing conservation programs, including the
Conservation Reserve Program, which pays farmers to idle their
land.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa,
praised parts of the report.
"The report gives us solid ideas for re-examining our farm
commodity programs - particularly the direct payments - so we can
better use our budget for countercyclical income protection and
critical investments in the future for farmers and rural
communities," Harkin said in a statement.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn.,
did not have an immediate comment.
The report was published by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a
new group aimed at finding policy answers to the nation's biggest
issues. The group is directed by four former Senate majority
leaders - Daschle, Dole, former Sen. Howard Baker, R-Tenn.; and
former Sen. George Mitchell, D-Maine.
