Senate Farm Bill - half a harvest.

The Senate passed the trillion dollar 2012 farm bill by a vote of 64-35 last week. All the ins and outs of this massive legislation are not yet clear, after all, much of the deal-making took place in a supercommittee that met in secret. The full Senate Agriculture Committee spent just three hours in deliberations.

Bob Goodlatte
for constituents or Big Ag?

According to analysts, the bill that finally emerged is, while not great, better than feared. It essentially preserves decades of policies that uses "insurance" to promote growing of soy, corn, and other commodities. Big Ag tried to knock out conservation provisions required for the insurance but an amendment that passed by a narrow 52-47 means farmers will have to meet some fundamental conservation guidelines to receive the taxpayer subsidized insurance. I already can hear Bobblehead Bob haranguing against too many regulations. But, I have to meet certain requirements for my car or homeowners insurance and it isn't even subsidized by taxpayers.

The bill also keeps many of the programs of Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food such as initiatives to help beginning farmers/ranchers and to help farmers realize more profits by adding value to their produce. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition highlights some of the good things that were preserved or added to the legislation on June 19 and on June 20. Since these programs are favored by the Obama administration, I imagine Bobblehead Bob, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, will automatically oppose them no matter what their impact on constituents. In this election year, politics will trump policy and I'm sure the House GOP leadership has already issued its marching orders.

We have a bicameral legislature and passage in the Senate doesn't guarantee anything. In the House of Representatives we can expect tea party wingnuts to push deep cuts to the Senate bill, especially for hunger programs like SNAP (food stamps), which was already cut in the Senate, and the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiatives. Big Ag, with its legions of lobbyists and deep pockets lavishing campaign and PAC contributions far and wide, will come out of this just fine. Their taxpayer subsidies and favorable treatment will assure their future profits. Ah, is that what you mean by "sustainable agriculture?"

More in a prior CCC post and at Mother Jones.

Did Bob Just Announce He's Running in 2010?

Bob Goodlatte will no longer be the big Republican bird on  the Agriculture Committee in the House of Representatives. When the GOP was in the majority, Goodlatte was chair of the committee. Since January of '07 he's been the ranking Republican. Now, because of a 6 year term limit, Goodlatte is out of that leadership position.

But, he's landed in a newly created position, vice-ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee. Because this committee deals with courts and laws, it is seen as one of the more powerful in the House. Approximately one-third of all bills pass, in full or in part, through this committee before reaching the floor. Previously he'd been 5th ranking Republican; now he's number 2. So, this is basically a lateral move for the congressman. But, with agriculture being so important to the 6th District, he may be left out in the field on some issues of importance to his constituents.

Out of 11 representatives, the Commonwealth has four members on the Judiciary Committee - other Virginia congressmen on the committee are Democrats Rick Boucher and Bobby Scott and Republican Randy Forbes.

Saying "I would love to one day serve as chairman of the Judiciary Committee," Goodlatte more than strongly hinted he's running for Congress again in 2010 (and '12 and '14?). Of course, for Bob to get the Big Bird's chair, the GOP would have to recapture the House (they currently hold 178 seats in the 435 seat chamber - down from 232 in 2005-06). And, the current ranking Republican, Lamar Smith of Texas, and the House Republican Conference may have other ideas.

So much for term limits Goodlatte advocated and promised when first elected.