Regulatory Relief items include:
* dismantling conservation compliance, defining away 3/4 of the nation's
wetlands (and hence making swampbuster less of an issue), reducing
penalties, and ending compliance in 7 years because farm program payments
will be over. (If anyone seriously believes federal payments to farmers
will be ended in 7 years, I have a bridge to sell).
* "private property rights protection on ag land" (whatever that means,
details to follow)
* consolidate all cost-share programs into 1 (a good idea)
* move NRCS into Farm Services Agency (a terrible idea and an attempt by
ASCS supporters to find a new mission for the agency in the wake of
Freedom to Farm, which will make it possible to cut FSA field staff by
2/3, according to now internal USDA analyses)
* reform End. Species Act
* pass ag sections of Clean Water Act, if it does not otherwise pass
* reform the compliance appeals process to make it more "farmer
friendly", or in other words, gut what little enforcement threat there is
* modify (i.e. focus on debunking myths re "risks") the USDA Office of
Risk Assessment
* pesticides and food safety reform -- aka repeal Delaney
This reads like an "everything we've talked about since the
election but have not delivered" list of promises. It is so broad and
implausible that many people in Washington do not know whether to take
it seriously or not. In this Congress, ANYTHING is possible. Recall the
early reaction to Freedom to Farm -- virtually everyone dismissed it as a
half-baked staff draft without any chance of passage. The same
statements are now being made about this bill; watch for BOTH to find
their way, in some altered form into the final reconcialiation package.
Chairman Roberts is a wise and caggy legislator, and he has the support
of the Speaker. He anticipates bad news for ag on the budget front --
look for deeper cuts before the final bill is signed -- and so Roberts is
getting ready the quid pro quo, which will get slipped into the final
bill late in the process, late at night, with the threat of the gov't
shutting down hanging over Washington, and no one home "minding the
store". Its the only way Roberts and the conservatives can sneak these
unpopular reforms through. Its the only way the President will sign a
bill with them in it.
Conservation and environmental groups are reacting aggressively
to this bill. Letters and meetings are being held with the House
leadership, including Gingrich, and the message is -- load the
reconciliation bill up with these provisions and risk a major floor fight
over the ag part of reconciliation, and a possible veto of the whole
bill, in part because of the ag sections. The leadership is having a
terrible time JUST dealing with the commodity program, sugar and peanuts,
and dairy mess; they are sensitive to the prospect of adding more straws
to this camel's back.
For lack of time I will not summarize the credit and trade
provisions, but a few of the Miscellaneous proposals are interesting --
* block grant USDA rural development programs to the states
* move the Future Farmers of America from the Dept. of Education to USDA
(now why do you suppose this idea is surfacing? Might it have something
to do with agribusiness ability to dictate the content of educational
programs and messages?? Or is it just all the extra money in ag budget
accounts?)