Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) says she has agreed to allow her agriculture disaster legislation to be removed from a small business bill in return for a pledge from White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to deliver critical agriculture disaster assistance administratively in the next few days.
Emanuel reportedly telephoned Lincoln recently to say that the Obama administration could find $1.5 billion within its budget to help agricultural producers around the country who were hit by natural disasters during 2009. He promised to provide the aid administratively if Lincoln would agree to delete her proposed $1.5 billion in ag disaster assistance funding from the small business package. She agreed.
USDA now has the task of finding the $1.5 billion, an amount some say could be moved administratively within the department.
The disaster assistance would be targeted to farmers who receive federal subsidies and operate in counties that federal authorities declared disaster areas during 2009. Farmers who could show that at least 5 percent of their crops were lost could receive payments equal to 90 percent of their regular subsidies.
Proponents say federal aid is needed to help farmers recover from natural disasters. But Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, said Lincoln 's proposal is more generous than past agriculture disaster payments that have required at least 30 percent crop loss. "It's a windfall (for farmers)," he said.
Lincoln is in a bruising campaign for re-election. The latest Rasmussen Reports poll show that Republican challenger John Boozman holds a 25-point lead over Lincoln in the Senate race. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of likely voters shows Boozman picking up 60 percent support, while Lincoln picks up 35 percent support. Just 2 percent would prefer another candidate, while 3 percent are undecided. These figures are little changed from a month ago, according to Rasmussen.
Reaction
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, was not happy with Lincoln 's White House deal or that the administration plans to try to farm aid money without first gaining congressional approval.
"I don't think they've got a checkbook down there," said Chambliss, who wants such payments considered by Congress. "If they can spend taxpayer money without it going through Congress … I don't know how they do that."
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) says his staff has told him "there is no way they (Obama administration) can do this administratively."
An aide to GOP Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona , a fiscal conservative and opponent of such farm disaster aid, said the lawmaker was working on a letter to the White House challenging Emanuel's action.
It's not unusual for the executive branch to distribute such disaster aid without congressional action, Lincoln said. "It's been done before," she added.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus also are upset over the White House promise to Lincoln . In a letter to President Obama, six members of the caucus called on the administration to find a way to compensate black farmers who suffered discrimination in government loan programs during the 1980s and 1990s. The administration has said it lacks the funds to pay a $1.2 billion agreement reached with USDA in 1999 to settle the Pigford class-action lawsuit.
The letter claims that if the administration can find $1.5 billion within its administrative funds to pay for agriculture disaster aid, it should be able to pay black farmers who suffered discrimination. "The current hardships experienced by other farmers should not trump hardships placed on African Americans and Native Americans by [USDA] in the past," they members wrote.
