By MEGGIE I. FOSTER
Assistant Editor WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last week, a delegation of 55 Indiana Farm Bureau (IFB) representatives met with key members of U.S. Congress hoping to shed light on important issues in agriculture.
“This is Farm Bureau season in Washington D.C., when 2,000 to 3,000 Farm Bureau members come to this city to tell their story just as you are,” said Pat Wolff, a tax lobbyist for AFBF. “I can’t make them care only you can. Only you can share how issues impact you on the farm.”
From March 8-10, Farm Bureau members from across the state of Indiana discussed hot topic issues including estate tax, the 2012 Farm Bill, Perkins funding, pending trade agreements, the Clean Water Act and the overstepping of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule-making authority.
During the three-day visit, delegates also met with staff from the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), House Ag Committee staff, U.S. Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) and U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) Additionally, members visited with Congressional representatives from nearly every district in the state of Indiana.
Estate tax One issue of concern for many Farm Bureau members is the death tax. In December 2010, Congress passed the Unemployment Insurance Reauthori-zation and Job Creation Act that temporarily extends the estate tax exemption of $5 million per person and the top rate of 35 percent for 2011 and 2012.
The bill put in place a new provision that allows the unused portion of a spouse’s exemption to be used by a surviving spouse. Without congressional action in 2013, the estate tax exemption will shrink to $1 million per person with no spousal transfer and the top rate will increase to 55 percent.
Farm Bureau’s policy agenda directs that estate taxes be eliminated permanently, but until this can be accomplished AFBF supports indexing the current $5 million exemption and making the top 35 percent tax rate permanent.
“I am opposed to double taxation,” said Coats as he addressed the Hoosier delegation. “This is a very important issue that needs to be resolved in the Ways and Means Committee.”
Perkins funding According to Wolff, the U.S. Congress is supposed to pass a federal budget by April 15 for Fiscal Year 2012.
“But Congress never finished last year’s budget, they only extended last year’s six month budget,” said Wolff. “They’ve done several short-term extensions and passed continuing resolutions to keep things rolling.”
In fact, the House recently cut $61 billion from current spending levels that included the Perkins fund. The Perkins fund, according to Wolff, helps support career and technical educational programs such as the FFA Organization.
“This is a gigantic mess and the Perkins fund has got caught up in that,” she added, encouraging members to bring this to the attention of respective Congressional representatives.
2012 Farm Bill Since most programs of the 2008 Farm Bill expire in 2012, discussion on the next farm bill is well into motion on Capitol Hill, according to Kent Yeager, IFB policy specialist.
Farm Bureau is supportive of the maintenance of a strong safety net for farmers and ranchers, the protection and improvement of working lands conservation programs over retirement type programs, the development of a gross margin insurance program as a replacement for the Milk Income Loss Contract and the dairy price support program, as well as efforts to ensure that farmers don’t beat the burden of an unfair share of necessary budget cuts.
“We need to think creatively, out of the box, the next farm bill needs to be flexible in direct payments depending on commodities grown,” said Yeager.
“Hopefully, I can try to make a difference here,” said Coats. “Agriculture is one of the success stories because the high prices have a positive impact on the economy, all issues multiply. But we need to get control of mandatory spending so there will be money available for needed programs.”
This seemed to be a sentiment shared by both Sen. Lugar and Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) as well. “Today (March 10), the Senate came back with a $5 billion budget cut,” added Lugar. “Can the leadership on both sides agree on bipartisan terms or will we pass a continuing resolution again? This discussion is not occurring, we need the leadership of our President to take this action seriously.”
Pending trade agreements Several delegation members said pending free trade agreements (FTAs), including the U.S. Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, U.S.-Panama Trade Promo-tion Agreement and the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement need resolved.
According to Farm Bureau’s policy directive, “it is time for Congress to put the politics aside and pass the Colombia, Panama and Korea trade agreements. Congress’ inaction is resulting in lost agricultural market share and decreased U.S. competitiveness.”
Farm Bureau estimates that the three outstanding FTAs represent almost $3 billion in additional exports.
“The bilateral trade agreements are an area of personal anguish for me,” said Lugar, who explained that the labor unions are stopping the process squarely. “South Korea is about to be introduced, while the Panama and Colombia agreements are sitting on the sidelines. We are losing ground because of protectism in this country.”
Clean Water Act Under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) threatens to undermine farmers’ ability to use important crop protection chemicals related to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), according to Don Parrish, director of regulatory affairs for AFBF.
More specifically, a Federal Court in 2009 handed down an unprecedented ruling that threatens to impose burdensome and unnecessary regulations on farmers, he explained. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals declared that the use of a pesticide may constitute a “discharge of pollutant” under the Clean Water Act. Permit requirements will become effective under the court ruling on April 9; and without an effort to exclude such agricultural pesticide use from permit requirements, an additional burden would be placed in producers’ hands.
“Under HR 872, moving quickly through the House of Representatives, it clarifies that you do not need a Clean Water permit for pesticide use,” he said. “This is one of our greatest priorities so producers don’t need a permit for sprayers. We are strongly backing this bill.”
Farm Bureau is also on board with clamping down oversight of the EPA, who many believe have overstepped their rule-making authority of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
“The EPA have taken matters into their own hands, generating rules of their own, this is the job of the legislation,” said Coats. “What the President can’t get done in Congress, he is going through the EPA to do.”
“We will probably have success in stopping the EPA through HR 872,” added Lugar. “But in fairness, the EPA is trying to look at regulating air and water quality, but what they aren’t looking at are the realities of American agriculture.” |
