Ralph M. Chite
Coordinator Section Research Manager
Congress periodically establishes agricultural
and food policy in an omnibus farm bill. The 113th Congress faces reauthorization of the current five-year farm bill (the
Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, P.L. 110-246), since many of
its provisions expire in 2013. The 2008 farm bill originally expired in
2012, but the 112th Congress did not complete action and instead extended
the law for one year (P.L. 112-240). The 2008 farm bill covers farm commodity
support, horticulture, livestock, conservation, nutrition assistance,
trade and international food aid, agricultural research, farm credit,
rural development, bioenergy, and forestry.
The Senate Agriculture Committee approved its version of an omnibus 2013 farm
bill (S. 954, the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013) by a
vote of 15-5 on May 14, 2013. The next day, the House Agriculture
Committee marked up its version of the farm bill (H.R. 1947, the Federal
Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013) with a vote of 36-10. The
Senate adopted S. 954 by a vote of 66-27 on June 10. The House considered
H.R. 1947 and adopted numerous amendments, but defeated the bill on June
20 by a vote of 195-234. On July 11, the House passed a variation of the
defeated bill that excluded a nutrition title but included other adopted
floor amendments (H.R. 2642) by a vote of 216-208. On September 19, the House
passed a stand-alone nutrition bill (H.R. 3102, the Nutrition Reform and Work
Opportunity Act of 2013) by a vote of 217-210. The House subsequently adopted
a resolution (H.Res. 361) that combined the texts of H.R. 2642 and H.R.
3102 into one bill (H.R. 2642) for purposes of resolving differences with
the Senate.
Within these bills are provisions that would reshape the structure of farm
commodity support, expand crop insurance coverage, consolidate
conservation programs, reauthorize and revise nutrition assistance, and
extend authority to appropriate funds for many U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) programs through FY2018.
Both the House and Senate bills would eliminate direct payments to farmers, and
revise (and rename) counter-cyclical price and revenue support programs.
The House bill would repeal a permanent law that has served as a fallback
for the farm commodity support programs if current authorities were
allowed to expire, and instead makes the farm commodity programs in H.R. 2642
the new permanent law. Both bills reauthorize various disaster assistance
programs.
Both the House and Senate would reauthorize the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps), though the Senate’s
reauthorization is for five years and the House’s is for three years. Both
bills restrict how a household’s receipt of Low-Income Home Energy
Assistance Program (LIHEAP) benefits can affect SNAP benefits. The House bill
also would restrict categorical eligibility, repeal state performance
bonuses, expand drug testing for SNAP applicants, and change several time
limit and work requirements.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that if the mandatory programs
of the 2008 farm bill were to continue, they would cost $973 billion over
the next 10 years (FY2014- FY2023). If enacted, the Senate-passed farm
bill (S. 954) would reduce this baseline by $17.9 billion (−1.8%) over 10
years. The House-passed combination of H.R. 2642 and H.R. 3102 together
would reduce spending by $51.9 billion (−5.3%) over 10 years. For nutrition
programs, the Senate bill’s reduction is $3.9 billion (−0.5%); the House
bill’s reduction is $39.0 billion (−5.1%) over 10 years. For the
agriculture-related (non-nutrition) portion of the bill, the Senate bill’s
reduction is $13.9 billion (−6.7%); the House bill’s reduction is $12.9 billion
(−6.2%).
Date of Report: October 18, 2013
Number of Pages: 178
Order Number: R43076
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Jim Monke
Specialist in Agricultural Policy
The budget situation for the farm bill is more difficult this year than for
recent farm bills because of attention to the federal debt. The desire by
many to redesign farm policy and reallocate the remaining farm bill
baseline—in a sequestration and deficit reduction environment—is driving much
of the farm bill debate. Uncertainty persists about broader deficit reduction
plans, some of which have targeted agricultural and nutrition programs
with mandatory funding. Much of that uncertainty affects the farm bill but
is beyond the control of the agriculture committees. Moreover, some
popular 2008 farm bill programs do not have a baseline that would provide continued
funding and thus will require budgetary offsets to continue.
The political dynamics of sequestration and deficit reduction pose difficult
questions about how much and when the farm bill baseline may be reduced.
In an era of deficit reduction, Congress faces difficult choices about how
much total support to provide for agriculture and nutrition, and how to
allocate it among competing constituencies.
Funding to write the next farm bill is based on Congressional Budget Office
(CBO) baseline projections of the cost of farm bill programs, and on
varying budgetary assumptions about whether programs will continue. The
CBO baseline is an estimate (projection) at a particular point in time of
what federal spending on mandatory programs likely would be under current law.
In May 2013, CBO projected that the current farm bill programs, if they were to
continue beyond the 2008 farm bill, would cost $973 billion over the next
10 years (FY2014-FY2023). About $764 billion of this amount is for
nutrition programs and the other $208 billion is divided among various
agriculture-related programs. This baseline estimate already has been reduced
by $6.4 billion over the same period because of the budget sequestration
ordered on March 1, 2013.
When new bills are proposed that affect mandatory spending, their impact (or
score) is measured as a difference from the baseline.
-
The Senate-passed farm bill (S. 954) would reduce farm bill baseline spending
by $17.9 billion (-1.8%) over 10 years.
-
The House-passed farm bill (H.R. 2642, as combined from the texts of H.R.
2642 and H.R. 3102) would reduce spending by $51.9 billion (-5.3%) over 10
years.
For nutrition programs, the
-
Senate bill’s reduction in nutrition is $3.9 billion (-0.5%) over 10 years;
-
House bill’s reduction in nutrition is $39.0 billion (-5.1%) over 10 years.
For the agriculture-related (non-nutrition) portion of the bill, the
-
Senate bill’s reduction in agricultural programs is $13.9 billion (-6.7%)
over 10 years,
-
House bill’s reduction in agricultural programs is $12.9 billion (-6.2%) over
10 years.
Date of Report: October 21, 2013
Number of Pages: 36
Order Number: R42484
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Jim Monke
Specialist in Agricultural Policy
The farm bill (the Food, Conservation, and Energy
Act of 2008, P.L. 110-246) provides mandatory funding for many farm bill
programs, including the farm commodity programs and some nutrition,
conservation, research, bioenergy, horticulture, and rural development
programs. Some farm bill programs have budget baseline beyond the end of
the 2008 farm bill, while others do not. Those with continuing baseline
essentially have built-in future funding if policymakers decide the
programs should continue in their current form.
However, 37 programs that received mandatory funds during the 2008 farm bill
are not assumed to continue from a budgetary perspective because they do
not have a budgetary baseline beyond FY2012. Notable programs among this
group include certain agricultural disaster assistance programs, some
conservation programs, specialty crop research, organic research and certification,
beginning and socially disadvantaged farmer programs, rural development, bioenergy,
and farmers market promotion programs. If policymakers want to continue these programs
in the next farm bill, they will need to pay for the programs with offsets.
Depending on the approach used to estimate a cost to extend the 37 programs for
five years, an estimated $9 billion to $14 billion of offsets from other
sources may be needed. This is nearly 3% of the five-year CBO baseline for
farm bill programs (FY2014-FY2018), or 14% of the five-year baseline if
the nutrition title is excluded. Finding this level of offsets can be a
difficult task in a tight budget environment, especially when many
observers believe that some of the farm bill baseline may be used for
deficit reduction.
The one-year extension of the 2008 farm bill in the American Taxpayer Relief
Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-240) did not provide any additional mandatory
funding for any of the 37 programs without baseline. However, the House
and Senate Agriculture Committees envisioned providing funding for many of
these programs in the five-year farm bills that were debated in 2012 (H.R. 6083
and S. 3240) but that were not enacted.
In 2013, the Senate-passed farm bill (S. 954) would provide more than $4.5
billion of mandatory funding over five years for 25 of the programs
without baseline. The combination of Housepassed farm bills (H.R. 2642 and
H.R. 3102) would provide more than $4.8 billion of mandatory funding for
14 of the programs.
Date of Report: October 10, 2013
Number of Pages: 29
Order Number: R41433
Price: $29.95
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