House panel approves $14.4 billion Agriculture bill

The House Appropriations Committee emphatically Wednesday passed the fiscal 2001 Agriculture spending bill amid spirited debates over economic sanctions against Cuba.

Though the sanctions debate dominated the GOP-controlled committee's deliberations over the $14.4 billion agriculture spending bill, the panel also fought through several other contentious issues during a seven-hour markup session before approving the farm spending bill by voice vote and sending it to the House floor.

Several Democratic attempts to boost spending for various agricultural programs were blunted by the Republicans, who insisted that the committee stick to spending guidelines laid down earlier this spring in the 2001 budget resolution. Only once did the panel buck its leaders, on an amendment by Reps. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., and James Walsh, R-N.Y., to boost subsidies to hard-pressed apple and potato growers. That amendment passed by a 26-22 vote.

Another Hinchey amendment also was adopted to add $57 million for the Rural Community Advancement Program, which provides money and technical assistance to small towns for economic development and infrastructure improvements, as well as for hospitals, libraries, police and other services. It drew barely enough votes to pass, 25-23, after Hinchey explained that he would pay for it by reducing the commissions paid to private agents who sell federal crop insurance to 20 percent from 24.5 percent.

Other Democratic efforts to boost spending in the bill went for naught. The committee, mostly along party lines, rejected:

• a proposal by Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., to provide an extra $13.7 million for an investigation by the Agriculture Department of alleged anti-competitive practices by processors of farm products. Obey complained that declining farms prices were not reflected in rising shelf prices at grocers because "the middleman" is raking in the profits. That amendment was defeated by a vote of 21 yeas, 28 nays.
• a bid by Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, to add $51.3 million for programs to study and combat intrusive pests that are threatening to destroy crops and livestock. It failed on a vote of 22 yeas, 28 nays.
• an amendment by Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, to increase disaster aid by $284 million to eligible farmers nationwide. Last year, he argued, affected farmers got only 69.6 percent of the disaster assistance funding they were entitled to. "My amendment would assure that they'd get 84 percent of their money this year," he said. The committee rejected the amendment by a 27-18 margin.
• a Kaptur amendment appropriating $80 million to help small- and medium-sized farm operators move their products to market faster and cheaper. It was rejected 26-19.
• a proposal by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., adding $14.4 million for the Food Safety Inspection Service. DeLauro's amendment would have bolstered programs to reduce the incidence of food-borne diseases in meat, vegetables and other products, and would have required egg-producers to pay fees for federal inspections on the same basis as meat and poultry producers. That amendment was defeated by a 24-20 vote.

In other action, the committee approved by voice vote an amendment by:

• Rep. Joseph Knollenberg, R-Mich., to instruct the Commodity Credit Corp. to use part of its emergency spending authority to combat bovine tuberculosis in wild and domestic animals. A widening epidemic in his home state could lead, he said, to farm losses of as much as $156 million. Kaptur tried to broaden the CCC authority to cover several other intrusive and contagious crop and livestock diseases but was defeated {Vote 3].
• an en bloc amendment that included eight non-controversial amendments on which committee staff provided no details as of press time.

As the bill went to the House floor, it contained:

• $828.4 million for disaster loans and operating subsidies for farmers, an increase of $34 million over fiscal 2000.
• $4.6 billion for farm credit programs, up $1.48 billion.
• $5.l billion for rural housing loans, up $484 million. In addition, the committee boosted rental assistance programs by $16 million to $656 million for fiscal 2001.
• $2 billion for rural electric and telephone loans.
• $676.8 million for conservation programs, up $16 million.
• $673.8 million for food safety and inspection programs, up $24.7 million.
• $1.24 billion for operations of the Food and Drug Administration, up $57 million.
• $9.5 billion for child nutrition programs, a slight cut from this year's spending level.
• $4.1 billion for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) feeding program, a slight increase over this year's spending.
• $22.2 billion for the Food Stamp program, an increase of $160 million over fiscal 2000.
• $980 million for the international Food for Peace program, slightly more than this year.