Beating A Dead Horse

You would think that Ag Secretary Vilsack would be getting the idea that he’s beating a dead horse when it comes to calling on Congress to pass the Farm Bill. He has been rallying the same battle cry now for the last several months and so far it has fallen on deaf ears. Now with the President’s call for U.S. military action against Syria, the Farm Bill was pushed even further down on the list of priorities. What’s likely now is yet another Farm Bill extension, since the current extension of the 2008 Farm Bill expires the end of this month. Vilsack says that Congress should add more working days to their calendar in order to get the Farm Bill done, and he is right. But coulda, shoulda is probably more than likely what will happen on that front. So again, extending current programs through the end of November is more than likely the route that Congress will take. Interestingly, according to a Congressional Research Service report, over the last forty years only the 1973 and 1977 farm bills were enacted before the September 30 deadline, with the last three farm bills being enacted later each year. Perhaps Congress is looking to break their own record.