Inside US Trade / Vol. 19, No. 2
Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman last week predicted that unless the 107th Congress acts swiftly to overhaul legislation to provide support for U.S. farmers, it will need to provide relief through emergency supplemental appropriations. Trading partners have sharply criticized the U.S. for providing supplemental payments to its farmers.
"I still believe that the current farm bill does not provide an effective support system, particularly for row crop producers," Glickman said. "My guess is that unless Congress decides [early in the session] to modify the bill this year, there will be some emergency help again this year." His comments came during a Jan. 4 radio address, his last as Agriculture Secretary for the outgoing Clinton Administration.
A supplemental appropriation could bring the U.S. close to its limits for domestic support for agriculture it negotiated as part of the Uruguay Round, unless the U.S. claims that such an action is non-trade distorting and should not be counted toward those limits, which would also likely meet opposition from trading partners.
The current farm bill, the Freedom to Farm Act, does not expire until 2002. But a spokesman for House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) indicated that the committee may look to pass legislation making changes to farm commodity programs this year, rather than wait for the full reauthorization next year. But farm groups would need to outline the specific program changes they would be looking for in upcoming hearings on the issue, the spokesman said.
"With specifics, we hope the commodity program changes could go through Congress this year, rather than wait for the re-write of the entire farm bill," according to the spokesman. The committee has asked producers to outline specific changes down to dollar or interest rate amounts, with an accompanying analysis of how the proposed changes would affect trade, other domestic livestock sectors, and how they would reflect U.S. commitments on agriculture in the World Trade Organization, he said.
The spokesman said that provided farm groups could agree on a set of legislative changes, Combest hoped to have legislation ready for a committee vote by May, with the goal of passing a bill before September or October.
But that timeframe could be difficult, given that the Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), has emphasized a comprehensive approach to re-authorizing the farm bill, including trade, tax and risk management aspects. On the question of whether to deal separately with changes to commodity programs this year, a spokesman for Lugar said, "That's not anything he has talked about."
The House committee spokesman stressed that the accelerated timeframe for legislation on commodity programs was meant to address an immediate need, and should not be considered procedurally splitting up the issues addressed in current farm legislation. "This is not a two-tiered approach to the farm bill," he said.
In his Jan. 4 comments, Glickman also listed an unprecedented amount of U.S. food aid-- reaching nearly $10 million in 2000-- as one of the Clinton Administration's most significant accomplishments in the area of agriculture under his tenure. The effort has not only been a humanitarian achievement, but has also been a success from the point of view of foreign policy, opening the door for a visit to North Korea by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, he said.
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