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The Forgotten Farm Bill

That ticking sound you hear is the clock running down on the precious few days Congress will hang around this fall, and the closer we get to Thanksgiving, the more jam-packed the Senate schedule becomes with spending bills, veto overrides and other “must-pass” legislation. This means we’ve got no idea right now how much time we’ve got to focus on the Farm Bill this year.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D, IA) has got to be one frustrated committee chair. He and other senior Ds and Rs got up on November 5 and talked about the wonderfulness of the ag committee’s Farm Bill — this is the pro forma way in which the debate begins on any bill — and no sooner had the last syllable of praise stopped resonating off the Senate chamber walls, than Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, NV) yanked the Farm Bill and moved to appropriations bills, the Water Resources Development Act veto override (which is a very good thing) and other stuff.

What caused the train to derail? In fairness, bills with immediate deadlines for action interfered, but what really took the trolley off the track was a major procedural/political duke out between Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R, KY) over how many and what amendments will be allowed to be offered on the bill.

Right now there are probably close to 75 amendments filed on the Senate Farm Bill. All that means is that a Senator has sent language to the clerk as a placeholder during the debate, and may never actually offer the amendment, or may offer, talk about it, and then withdraw it having gotten the issue before the full body.

Reid announced early on during the November 5 acton that he was going to limit amendments to those “germane” to the underlying bill. This gambit is ostensibly to make sure the bill gets done in a reasonable amount of time, like before Christmas.

Now, anyone who’s worked the Senate knows whatever rules there might be are generally so “flexible” that they can never be broken. There’s rarely a “germaneness” test to anything in the Senate, so when McConnell got up and protested, no one was surprised.

The GOP — and a good number of Dems — want to bring “any and all” amendments to the floor. This means a good chunk of them would be totally unrelated to the Farm Bill. It’s known several Senators want to bring up the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS),others want to do tax amendments, and still others are hoping to fix previously passed legislation with any number of odd and unrelated amendments.

So far, the two leaders are at an impasse with no agreement on amendments. I’m guessing when they get back from their Veterans Day long weekend there will be a deal. My money is on McConnell and his supporters.

The good news during all of this was Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D, CA) announcement she will not offer her AgJobs amendment during the floor debate. Harkin had serious concerns that bringing AgJobs to the Farm Bill could literally tie up the bill for days as other Senators brought forward their own immigration amendments.

Oh, and the cherry on the top of this week’s Fam Bill cake? The White House sent its formal notice to the Senate on Tuesday that it will veto the bill if arrives on the President’s desk looking anything like it looks now.