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By Tom Nicolette
TFB Media Services Director
Maintaining the structure and funding for the 2002 farm bill was the top priority in discussions between Texas Farm Bureau county and state leaders during their springtime visits with elected officials on Capitol Hill. More than 130 farmers and ranchers traveled to Washington, D.C. for TFB's annual National Affairs Awards Trip, April 5-8.
The need for comprehensive energy legislation and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) also headlined the visits by agricultural producers.
The awards trip provides the Farm Bureau leaders the opportunity to inform their U.S. representatives and senators about their various concerns and how they are impacting agricultural operations in Texas. The county leaders who qualified for the organization's yearly awards trip did so by working with their elected officials on a regular basis, and participating in national affairs events.
The House and Senate have approved budget resolutions that would reduce farm program funding. The House plan calls for $5.3 billion in cuts, while the Senate budget includes $2.8 billion in reductions, over the next five years. Farm Bureau opposes any decrease in the USDA budget. However, the organization maintains that if cuts are made, then they should be distributed fairly without agriculture sustaining a major cut.
"Our position on the 2002 farm bill is we think it is a contract with the farmers and ranchers of America, and we want it to stay intact," said TFB President Kenneth Dierschke. "But most of them (elected officials) are saying they do want to keep the farm bill like it is, and that whatever comes out will be very minimal."
Meanwhile, over the last three years, spending on the farm bill has been $15 billion less than what was projected by the Congressional Budget Office when the farm legislation was enacted.
Cong. Randy Neugebauer (R-Lubbock) told Farm Bureau constituents the House and Senate versions on farm program reductions now have to be negotiated in a conference committee.
"I would think the final outcome will be somewhere in the middle, probably drifting closer to the Senate number. But the good news is that in the budget resolutions, specific cuts are not named. What will actually happen, is in the various committees, we will work out how we'll go about trimming the spending in our country. I think we're going to be able to do that without a major disruption in the 2002 farm bill," said Neugebauer, who is a member of the House Agriculture Committee.
Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-San Antonio), who also sits on the House Ag Committee, said: "On the cuts that have been proposed, I don't support that. When you look at the ag budget, compared to the whole federal budget, it is less than a half of a percent. I certainly know that when we have deficits, it's all a matter of budgeting; that is, what priorities are you going to set? Certainly, when it comes to ag, we need to give you all the priorities that we can."
The Bush administration, however, is determined to make sure the nation's deficit gets under control. New Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns addressed the Texas farmers and ranchers on the administration's position.
"Now you understand the bottom line. You run businesses. You recognize you cannot run deficits year after year. Well, somehow this federal government has to come to grips with what's going on here," Johanns said. "I think it's the right goal (to cut the size of the deficit in half over the next five years). But some of you might say, `But Mike, there's ag programs involved here,' and I know that. But I know there isn't much future for agriculture if we don't get our budget issues in order," the agriculture secretary added.
While in the nation's capital, Farm Bureau members also emphasized the critical need for the 109th Congress to finally pass comprehensive energy legislation to help offset extraordinarily high energy prices across the United States.
"We need an energy policy. It's been back in the 1970s since we had a real energy policy. Not only does the fuel for our equipment cost a lot more at the pump but fertilizer costs are also an added burden," said cotton, corn and hay producer Mike Lehr from Taylor in Williamson County.
Two weeks later, the House passed comprehensive energy legislation, H.R. 6, by a 249-183 vote.
"The energy policy will be first about supply because nothing happens unless we have energy," said first-term Cong. Mike Conaway (R-Midland). "The second consideration would be the overall cost because this energy bill will speak to incentives for supplies that are not fully utilized now."
The House measure would raise the renewable fuels standard, provide incentives for energy exploration and production, including provisions for energy exploration in a small portion of the Artic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. It is not known when the Senate version of an energy bill will reach the floor for debate and a vote.
The House has approved bills in past sessions, but it has been the Senate where energy legislation has run out of fuel in recent years.
"I'm very supportive of drilling in the ANWR," said U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, "because that is an (drilling) area the size of Love Field in Dallas, and the ANWR is the size of the state of South Carolina. It is a miniscule part of that refuge. It is a grassy plain. There are no trees in sight, and it will be done environmentally safely. I totally support it. It's the biggest area that we have untapped for oil and gas. We need to tap it for national security and for the stability of our economy," Hutchison said.
The U.S. is 60 percent dependent on foreign sources for energy needs. Texas' senior senator said the country cannot sustain this level because the U.S. does not control prices.
The pending Central American Free Trade Agreement, known as CAFTA, would yield nearly $1.5 billion in agricultural exports to U.S. farmers and ranchers. For Texas producers, this trade agreement would create a $945 million annual export market. Texas Farm Bureau supports passage of CAFTA.
"I'm for these free trade agreements because I think they benefit our economy, both the ag economy and the rest of our economy," said Cong. John Carter (R-Round Rock). Later in the month, the Central Texas congressman journeyed to Honduras and Nicaragua to discuss the CAFTA.
Other issues discussed between TFB members and the Texas congressional delegation included the fair tax, estate tax and proposed national animal identification program.
