Did anyone really think we'd get a Farm Bill by waiting until after the election?
Hopes of salvaging a long-term farm bill in this Congress are fading fast as Speaker John Boehner continues to resist including any such legislation in a year-end budget deal with President Barack Obama.
Both the White House and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner have said savings promised from commodity subsidies could be part of a deficit reduction down payment this year. And as recently as last week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urged farm bill negotiators to work "24/7" so they could be the "caboose" on any legislative train leaving before New Year’s.
But sources familiar with the deficit talks paint a very different picture: of the speaker digging in, saying he can’t include the farm bill in any package for fear of losing more Republican votes [David Rogers, "Boehner's Stand Dims Farm Bill Hopes," Politico, 2012.12.18].
Oooo... that "work 24/7" thing must have scared Rep. Kristi Noem away from getting the Farm Bill done. With her sophomore-year senioritis kicking in, she doesn't want to work any harder than she has to.
Noem and Boehner knew the fiscal cliff was coming. They knew a budget deal would be hard to pass. They knew trying to squeeze the Farm Bill into already an already intense legislative battle would only make it harder to take car of either the Farm Bill or the fiscal cliff.
Previous Congresses managed to pass Farm Bills on time in tough political situations. But now Rep. Noem and Speaker Boehner appear either unable or unwilling to make good farm policy happen.
By the way, one immediate impact of failing to pass a farm bill right now would be a possible doubling of milk prices:
Without an extension by Jan. 1, dairy policy reverts to a 1949 law that prescribes a post-World War II vision of a more muscular government buying up dairy products directly to boost prices. The Agriculture Department would pay producers $38.54 per hundredweight compared to a market now running near $16.22. The result could be havoc — many estimate a doubling in consumer prices for milk.
"I will do what the law requires me to do," [USDA Secretary Tom] Vilsack said at a press conference last week. "It’s fair to say milk prices will increase, and that’s an unfortunate circumstance … Consumers shouldn’t have to have higher milk costs because Congress can’t get its work done" [Rogers, 2012.12.18].
Kristi and I both like raisin bran. Letting the Farm Bill lapse unnecessarily increases both the government spending and our personal grocery spending. Kristi, do your job. Skip that fundraiser and get the Farm Bill done.
Oh, no! (feigns shock and surprise) Really, Kristi's about as hard to read as a Bazooka Joe cartoon, yet, thanks to the "R" after her name...well, to be honest, I'm sick of all of 'em in Congress at this point. The whole term limit uproar from the early 90s is starting to look kinda good again.
Ag country votes put her back in the House, simple as that. They knew what she was and they voted her back in for another 2 year disaster. Lightning does strike twice in the same spot and it is too bad that it is right on South Dakota's melon. So here now is the new political slogan, "You can keep your change (literally) because that is all you will have left, be happy you have that".
Good news though! NOem will most certainly support giving more moolah to the bloated Department of Defense, you can count on that bill being approved right quick like.
My brother-in-law in Aberdeen was in the State House with NOem. He paid personally and put the following ad in the Aberdeen American News (newspaper) when she was running again: "My locker was next to Kristi Noem when she was in the State House. Not once did she greet me or say hello... She was a lazy legislator in Pierre and she's a lazy legislator now in Washington, D.C." That $80 ad said it all.
Bob Mercer wrote that Tim Johnson has "zero pull" because he couldn't score a meeting with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki over the future of the Hot Springs VA facility.
Surely Mercer will write an article saying that Rep. Noem has "zero pull" because as a member of leadership she can't even convince her party leader to hold a vote on the farm bill.
I make this prediction for the next congress. John Boehner will not have the support of his crazy a$$$ caucus after trying to make a deal with the President. Noem's already expressing disappointment in his leadership - walking the fence in anticipation of the caucus fight that is coming. Eric Cantor will be speaker, and Boehner will resign his house seat to spend more time with his family and to recover from that knife wound to his back.
Rorschach, you may be correct on Cantor's rise to the Speaker's chair, but I do not think that will do anything but move the deck chairs on this ship of fools. We Americans are paying a high price for empty suits right now and the removal of the orange man, will not be any better. Also, don't count on Mr. Mercer to do any kind of bad press for NOem, he may be smitten by her charm, or too busy looking at his belly button to complain.