03/21/07 Grassley again on payment limit issue

Farm and Ranch March 21, 2007 When the U.S. Senate debates the Fiscal Year 2008 budget resolution, Iowa Republican Charles Grassley and North Dakota Democrat Byron Dorgan will offer an amendment to place a hard cap on farm payments. Grassley says the reality of farm payments isn't a pretty site and they are getting worse. Grassley: "We are now facing the fact that more than 72% of the payments from the farm program go to only ten percent of the nation's farmers and those are obviously the biggest farmers. Our amendment would make a recommendation to the Agriculture Committee to put a hard cap on farm payments of 250-thousand dollars. The amendment would save approximately 497 million dollars over five years and would be applied to renewable energy, conservation and nutrition." Grassley has pushed for tighter payment limits for several years. In fact - the Iowa Senator successfully pushed for a cap in the Senate during the 2002 Farm Bill debate - but the provision didn't make it through the House. He's also seen the provision included in several budget packages. And Grassley says he isn't alone in the this fight. Grassley: "The President has proposed a hard cap the last two or three budgets. We haven't been able to deliver on them. There are tremendous savings." Grassley says he's hopeful the payment limits amendment will keep debate on the issue moving forward and at the forefront of people's minds as the 2007 Farm Bill debate gets underway. In its Farm Bill proposal the Administration calls for a 200-thousand dollar payment limit based on adjusted gross income. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.