08/13/07 Johanns Part 3

Johanns Part 3. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Last week I had a chat with USDA Ag Secretary Mike Johanns and we discussed the 2007 Farm Bill. Johanns is confident there will be a bill signed this year. JOHANNS: I do believe that we will get a farm bill this year. I know one thing for sure, the President wants a Farm Bill this year he can sign and he wants it on his desk before the end of the year. But even though there is a House bill on the table now and the Senate should begin debating their version next month, I asked the Secretary what he felt the biggest hurdle was in getting a bill to the President's desk. JOHANNS: We identified a number of things. I'll mention just a couple that I think are important but they are hurdles. One is the tax increase has to go away. We don't support tax increases. We feel strongly that people in this country are taxed enough and you don't go out and tax job creation and that's exactly what the House version was doing. So we're going to do everything we can to make sure that that's pitched over the side. The second area is we do need stronger payment limits. There's no justification for sending cash subsidies out of the Farm Bill to people who live in New York City or Washington DC. We can have a better payment limit provision than what came out of the House and so we're going to work very, very hard on that and like I said, I continue to optimistic but we still have work to do. One of the big issues that farmers are seeing is that the text of the bill seems to cater to the tax payers and not the farmers. Johanns plays it on the safe side but does agree that part of the House version does favor the non-agricultural taxpayer. JOHANNS: Well you have to make sure you do something that taxpayers can live with. I mean they're the boss. They pay the bills and I always say in government we have nothing we haven't taken from somebody. I say about farm programs, I need to be able to justify these programs whether I'm in town or in the country. Now having said that, if you do good farm programs you're not only going to build a base of support with farmers and ranchers  but taxpayers will see them or see those programs as positive. One of the problems we had with the House version is  we're sending cash subsidies to people who live on Park Avenue in New York City. They have virtually no contact with agriculture other than maybe they own some land and yet they are getting cash subsidies. I don't think this safety new was ever intended to do that. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.