12/03/07 Economist tells farmers to give the Senate hell

Farm and Ranch December 3, 2007 Pacific Northwest wheat and barley growers have been given an assignment by Kansas State University ag economist Barry Flinchbaugh and that is to give the U.S. Senate hell for not having passed a farm bill yet. I interviewed Flinchbaugh after his presentation at the Pacific Northwest Grains Conference in Spokane last week. Flinchbaugh: "When the House can pass a bill in July and get it done before recess, why then is the Senate in the position they are in between Thanksgiving and Christmas? I mean if the House can do it by July certainly the Senate could get it done before Thanksgiving. There is no excuse for it. They ought to be embarrassed especially because we have to revert back to this permanent legislation which was passed in 1938, or we are going to come up with an extension which tells farmers that Congress doesn't have the ability to write a new farm bill. There is just no excuse for it." Flinchbaugh says farm bills are generally not partisan pieces of legislation but calls this round of writing a new bill the most partisan ever. The entertaining economist says there is nothing wrong with the content of the House or Senate Ag Committee bills. He blames lack of leadership in the Senate. Even with an agreement this month Flinchbaugh doesn't see a farm bill getting completed until January. Flinchbaugh: "I used to talk about a Christmas present and now I am talking about a box of candy on Valentines Day." I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.