By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter
Current farm and nutrition legislation is set to expire Sunday evening with no replacement bill in sight.
U.S. Congressman Mike Conaway of Texas, chair of the House Committee on Agriculture, confirmed the news with the Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) Radio Network Friday afternoon.
“It’s a work in progress. More work than progress at this stage. Obviously, the current one expires Sunday night, and I’m disappointed that we don’t have the new one in place,” Conaway said. “We should have, but negotiations did not go as quickly as I wanted them to.”
There’s no talk, at this time, of extending the 2014 Farm Bill.
“In previous farm bill expirations, we’ve never extended in September,” Conaway said. “It just simply adds additional weight to the reasons why we need to get this done. We’re still working to get the current one fixed.”
In a video message sent by the House Committee on Agriculture Friday, Conaway said maybe it’s from his time as a football player, but he’s not going to give up until the clock runs out.
“You start talking extension that means you’re quitting, and you’re giving up on the current process,” Conaway said. “I’m simply refusing to quit. It’s not in my DNA. I don’t know how to do it. So we’re just going to keep going on this one and then get this one done.”
Sen. Pat Roberts, chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, ranking member of the Senate committee, Rep. Collin Peterson, ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee, and Conaway have been negotiating through the farm bill’s 12 titles for weeks trying to compromise on a single piece of legislation.
“The Title 1 has to be strengthened. We need good crop insurance. We need to strengthen that,” Conaway said. “I’m really looking to address things that don’t work in the current ARC (Agriculture Risk Coverage) and PLC (Price Loss Coverage) program, but Title 1 clearly has to get stronger.”
Other priorities for Conaway include the nutrition and conservation titles.
“Up and down through all 12 titles, if there’s something that’s out of whack, we’ve got to get it fixed,” Conaway said.
With net farm income down over the past decade and low commodity prices, Conaway said he understands the critical nature of the farm bill.
“Just know that as best I can understand, not being a farmer or a rancher, how terrible the economics are right now in the farm world and the brush and agriculture world, I try to communicate a sense of urgency in this for getting a new Farm Bill in place on time,” Conaway said. “This causes uncertainty (and) causes additional anxiety within the men and women who feed us every single day.”
Conaway said he cannot fix the current trade issue or commodity prices, but he and his colleagues can get something done on the farm bill.
As of Friday afternoon, the next meeting between Roberts, Conaway, Stabenow and Peterson had not yet been scheduled.
“I’m banging on the chairman to call one,” Conaway said. “I talked to him (Thursday) afternoon, and he agrees. So I’m waiting confirmation from them.”
Even though the House is out of session in October, Conaway said he is willing to fly back to Washington, D.C. at a moment’s notice to negotiate the farm bill.
“There’s a sense of emergency that I’m trying to communicate to my colleagues, and any weight that they can give to getting it done would be much appreciated,” Conaway said.