CALLS ARE NEEDED IMMEDIATELY TO SUPPORT THE GRASSLEY-DORGAN BUDGET AMENDMENT TO BE VOTED ON THURSDAY
PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS NOW
On Thursday (November 3), the Senate will vote on a payment limitation reform amendment to the budget reconciliation bill. Call your senators and express your strong support for this crucial reform offered by Senators Grassley, Dorgan and many of their colleagues. The amendment will cap farm program payments at $250,000 for farms with two actively engaged spouses or farming partners. It will also eliminate a substantial portion of the huge cuts in the underlying bill, which in turn will protect the Conservation Security Program and the Conservation Reserve Program. The amendment also reduces the underlying bill's across-the-board commodity program cuts for the 2006 and 2007 crop years. This vote, which is likely to be close, will be a critical vote on agriculture at the federal level in this Congress.
It's easy to act! Call the US Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121, ask for your Senator by name and ask for the agriculture staff person -- if that person is not available, leave a clear, short message with the receptionist. Tell them you are a constituent and are urging the Senator to vote for the Grassley-Dorgan payment limitation and agricultural conservation amendment to the budget bill on Thursday.
Tell them the amendment:
** restores funding to mid-sized farms hit hardest by the recent cuts in rural development programs;
** restores funding for the Conservation Security Program and the Conservation Reserve Program; and
** brings fairness to the distribution of commodity programs payments.
Background: The Senate is voting Thursday on a "budget reconciliation" bill that will cut many government programs, including agricultural programs, by a total of $35 billion. The agriculture portion of the bill would cut $4.3 billion from existing federal farm bill programs, with grossly disproportional cuts aimed at mid-sized farms and at agricultural conservation programs, including most especially the groundbreaking new program of the 2002 Farm Bill, the Conservation Security Program.
The amendment will place a cap on farm commodity program benefits and close existing loopholes in the law to put an end to million dollar checks going to mega-farms, restoring fairness and good government to the programs. Through the savings brought about by payment limitation reform, the amendment will greatly reduce the cuts in the underlying bill to the Conservation Security Program and the Conservation Reserve Program, allowing these important programs to continue on through the next farm bill. The amendment will also bring US policy more in line with the growing demands from US trading partners to stop subsidized dumping of our products abroad. Visit http://www.ncrlc.com/FarmFoodBudgetPriorities.html.
