Peterson, Lincoln Disagree On Threshold For Farm Disaster Aid

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), his counterpart in the Senate, have decidedly different views regarding the definition of agricultural disasters.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), his counterpart in the Senate, have decidedly different views regarding the definition of agricultural disasters.

Lincoln and Agriculture Committee member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) have drafted legislation that would provide an estimated $1.5 billion to farmers who have suffered a 5 percent loss due to natural disaster. Under their proposal, cotton, grain and soybean growers would get an ad hoc disaster payment equal to 90 percent of their annual direct payment subsidy. They estimate that approximately $1.1 billion would be paid that way. The remaining $400 million would be targeted to cottonseed handlers and to livestock, fish, fruit and vegetable producers.

Speaking to a recent rice industry conference, Peterson said the Lincoln-Cochran proposal is "asking for trouble." He pointed out that in the past, ad hoc USDA disaster assistance programs generally required farmers to suffer a loss of one-third of their crop before they became eligible for a payment.

"I think there's going to have to be a higher loss" trigger this time, he predicted, noting that House members would be working on the issue. What Peterson did not mention specifically is that under the Lincoln-Cochran disaster proposal, eligible farmers would receive 190 percent of their direct payment plus any other subsidies to which they might be entitled. Finding a way to pay for the aid could prove daunting, given the current federal deficit and continuing calls to bring the budget under better control.

Peterson is a member of the Blue Dog coalition, a group of Democratic House members that claims to be fiscally conservative on most issues.

Lincoln and Cochran tried unsuccessfully to convince Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to include their aid language in the jobs creation legislation that the Senate began considering the week of Feb. 22. They have yet to identify another vehicle to which they can attach their amendment, but they continue to look.

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