The House starts their mark up at 10 a.m. this morning with about 80 amendments filed. Not all will be considered, some will be incorporated into the Chairman’s amendment and like yesterday some will be debated and pulled for potential floor consideration.
Expect a lot of debate on SNAP programs as the House bill will cut the program by almost $21 billion over the next decade. Specific to SNAP-Ed, the bill provides a permanent reduction in funding for SNAP’-Ed through a reduction of $26 million, from $401 million to $375 million, and adjusted each year thereafter for inflation, resulting in a ten-year cut of $274 million. This proposed cut comes on the heels of the program’s fiscal year 2013 budget cut of 28 percent that was included in the fiscal cliff agreement, resulting in decreased program activity.
Here is what we have so far from Energy & Environment Daily and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
- Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) is seeking to give renewable energy and energy efficiency programs millions of dollars in mandatory funding as the House Agriculture Committee begins its markup of the 2013 farm bill.
- Rep. Bill Enyart (D-Ill.) has filed an amendment that would encourage the Air Force to create a competitive grant program for biofuel research centers and to develop a pilot program for renewable jet fuel for airplanes. Aviation biofuels have gotten a boost from a joint program between the departments of Agriculture, Energy and Defense, and Enyart is seeking to build off that relationship.
- Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), a vocal opponent of ethanol, has filed an amendment that would repeal a program that USDA is considering using to help both the ethanol and sugar industries. Under the program, the department would buy up extra quantities of sugar in order to boost declining market prices and sell them to ethanol producers as a feedstock.
Several other amendments seek to restore funding for the National Organic Program and allow USDA to provide more than $20 million to help producers offset the fees that come with certifying organic foods.
- An amendment by Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) that would prohibit USDA and other agencies from releasing personal information on any participant in farm subsidy and conservation programs. Earlier this year, Gibbs said he was concerned about EPA’s recent release of hundreds of pages of data on concentrated animal feeding operations to environmental groups under a Freedom of Information Act request.
- An amendment by Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) that would create a process by which the secretary of Agriculture would review any EPA policies or guidances that could result in significant impacts on agriculture.
- A pair of competing amendments from Rep. Vicki Hartzler (R-Mo.) and Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) regarding USDA’s inspection of catfish. The Hartzler amendment would repeal the program and send inspections to the Food and Drug Administration, while the Crawford amendment would make USDA the sole agency with authority to inspect catfish.
- Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.) has filed an amendment that would strike a provision that caps conservation payments at a lower limit for organic producers than for conventional crop producers; a similar provision was included yesterday in the Senate farm bill.
- Rep. Richard Nolan (D-Minn.) has filed a pair of amendments that would increase the acreage in the Conservation Stewardship Program and refocus its requirements on conservation outcomes. A final conservation amendment from Rep. Sean Maloney (D-N.Y.) would give USDA the authority to receive donated lands for land easements.
Forestry related amendments include:
- An amendment by Rep. Dan Benishek (R-Mich.) that would require USDA to conduct a study of the timber needs of all wood-producing facilities within 100 miles of National Forest System areas and whether the National Forest System can meet those needs.
- An amendment by Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) that would allow USDA to reimburse states for using resources to help another state fight wildfires. A separate amendment by Noem would require the Forest Service to assist landowners near the Grand River Grazing District who lost property as the result of a Forest Service controlled burn that spiraled out of control earlier this year.
- An amendment by Goodlatte that would require USDA to put together a report on the condition of forest roads.
- An amendment by Nolan that would require USDA’s Forest Products Laboratory to conduct a study on wood as a green building material.
I’ll be watching the hearing today and will let you know if anything comes up during the day. As you all know Congresswoman Suzan DelBene is on the committee and we will be on call should she have any questions on WSU’s impact on any amendments.
*Sources
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – Authors: Dottie Rosenbaum and Stacy Dean
Energy & Environment Daily – Author: Amanda Peterka