11/16/06 Moving ahead with a Lame Duck

Moving ahead with a Lame Duck. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Agriculture faces an uphill fight to get a lame duck Congress to finish key legislation - including locks and dams modernization and disaster aid. Neither party is expected to want to do much more than necessary spending legislation - with few exceptions like Vietnam normal trade relations and perhaps the Water Resources Development Act. National Corn Growers Association Vice President of Public Policy Jon Doggett says his group - along with several others - is working to urge Congress to finally move on WRDA... DOGGETT: We've been part of a large effort of our own organization and other allied "go ahead and get this project done." We've taken out ads in the Capital Hill papers but mostly what we're trying to do is get our growers to call and say this is time. National Farmers Union President Tom Buis says his organization isn't giving up on disaster aid. BUIS: Just because the control of Congress change doesn't reduce the need for disaster assistance as a result of all of these weather related disasters over the last couple of years. It's been an on-going process, two years worth of crop failure in much of the nation. Buis says that's why his group wants a permanent disaster program in a new farm bill - to replace the politics of annual disaster budgeting. BUIS: The politics of it should be taken out of it. This is a disaster we're talking about. It's not a partisan political fight. And whenever you have to get a majority of Congress in order to get assistance, it takes a lot to get there. National Cattlemen's Beef Association Director of Legislative Affairs Colin Woodall says his group is urging quick action in the lame duck to continue exempting manure as a hazardous waste. And as for next year - Woodall says priorities include the farm bill - including alternative fuels and conservation - as well as mandatory country-of-origin labeling and animal ID. WOODALL: As far as animal ID, we think that's also going to come up. It has been a high priority for both the future chairman of Ag appropriations, agricultural sub-committee and Mr. Laurel and also Mr. Peterson the incoming Ag Committee Chairman. They have made that a top priority so we think they will come out of the gates firing on that pretty quickly. A ban on packer ownership of livestock operations - Woodall notes - has also been strongly backed by Democrats. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.