House Ag Chairman says payment caps are proable

Looks like a change of heart for House Ag Committee Chair, Collin Peterson. The Minnesota Democrat says there will most likely be some type of payment caps in the next farm bill. "I think there is a sense within the Committee that probably something has to be done otherwise we could end up with something on the floor that's not workable."Peterson says the pressure is coming from urban members of Congress who have been hearing questions from constituents about big payments made to a few producers.

Peterson says they went through a similar situation in 2002 and some changes were made. "If people are realistic, they're going to realize there's probably going to have to be some changes made this time as well."

Right now, members of the Ag Committee are talking with farmers in their states to get their ideas as to what type of payment caps would work best. Some have suggested no program payments to anyone with an adjusted gross income exceeding $200,000. Others have suggested elimination of the triple-entity rule. The Chairman says the members of his committee know agriculture in their part of the world, "They don't tell us how to farm in Minnesota and I'm not going to tell them how to farm in Arkansas."

He does point out that any limits would affect farmers in states like Arkansas, California, Texas and such more than in Minnesota.

Peterson says he will mark-up the farm bill on July 17th with floor action scheduled for July 24th. He also says he will mark-up two bills. One will contain all of the items that meet "pay-go" standards; the other will be the items that still need offsets. That second bill will be voted on by the full committee and then tabled until offsets can be found.

The Chairman says he is confident funding will be found, and once it is, the items will be taken from the table and sent to the bill either on the floor or in the Conference Committee.