1/28/08 Bius On Farm Bill

Bius on Farm Bill. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. On Friday, National Farmers Union President Tom Bius talked with reporters about the lack of a Farm Bill. He says he is as frustrated as everyone else about what is NOT happening. BIUS: Best described as growing frustration on our part and many people throughout rural America that we don't have a new Farm Bill enacted into law. It's been quite some time now since both the house and a little less time since the Senate passed the Farm Bill and we're seeing no progress  in fact we're seeing some very rigid positioning by the White House. Of course he is talking about the President's threat of vetoing the bill but Bius thinks that is just so much noise. BIUS: I certainly understand the White House's right to weigh in on the Farm Bill but to weigh in in a constructive manner is really important and to threaten a veto of a farm bill that hasn't even been worked out between the House and the Senate in advance is nothing less than saber rattling. If a bill is not signed then Bius says there are a lot of other issues to deal with. BIUS: The question comes up what happens is the House and the Senate send a farm bill to the President and he vetoes it, then I think we have to override the veto because too many programs are at stake. If that's not successful by March 15th as you all know the programs expire. We then start operating on a different budget baseline which will only compound the problem of ever working out the revenue provisions for the farm bill because we will have less money in a baseline to work with. Bottom line according to Bius is good hard American work. BIUS: I just think that we need to do what rural America does all the time in confronting the challenges and that's to sit down, roll up your sleeves, everybody listen to everyone and try to come to a successful conclusion. And sooner rather than later. The winter wheat crop has already been planted, the spring crops  farmers and ranchers are trying to plan, they're trying to purchase their I inputs which by the way are skyrocketing out of control and they are trying to arrange financing and other items in preparation. Not to mention all the other programs the Farm Bill addresses. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.