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Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The 2013 Farm Bill: A Comparison of the Senate-Passes (S. 954) and House- Passed (H.R. 2642, H.R. 3102) Bills with Current Law


Ralph M. Chite
Coordinator Section Research Manager

Congress periodically establishes agricultural and food policy in an omnibus farm bill. The 113
th 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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Thursday, October 24, 2013

Budget Issues Shaping a Farm Bill in 2013


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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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Expiring Farm Bill Programs Without a Budget Baseline


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
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