Our Work » Land, Water & Wildlife » Farm and Food Policy » Senate Action

2008 Senate Farm Bill

(Source: NRCS)

Senate Amendments

Proposed amendments will help meet conservation priorities »

The full Senate passed its version of the Farm Bill on December 14, 2007. The House and Senate must now work out their versions' differences through a conference committee composed of members of both the House and Senate. This process is underway now.

The Senate's bill provides $5.1 billion in new conservation funding, a significant step in the right direction, but still not enough to meet farmer demand and environmental need. The Senate bill also fails to make meaningful reforms to farm subsidy programs. The Senate bill continues one type of subsidy, direct payments, which flow to farmers regardless of need and which will cost taxpayers $100 million a week- $26 billion over the next 5 years- if not reduced. In fact, the Senate bill increases subsidies rather than reducing them by increasing support levels for some crops, adding new crops to the subsidy roll, and creating a new $5.1 billion "permanent disaster" program, which will encourage more intensive crop production on marginal lands, wasting taxpayer dollars and harming the environment.

Several Senators offered reform amendments to the Farm Bill during debate. These amendments would have reduced the amount the bill spends on subsidies and used the savings to help fund conservation and other priorities, bringing us closer to meeting farmer demand for conservation funding. A clear majority of Senators voted in favor of refoms to impose reasonable payment limits for subsidiy recipients and to prevent already wealthy individuals from receiving subsidy checks. However, a deal struck by Senate Leadership requiring a 60-vote supermajority to pass these amendments thwarted reform efforts. As a result, the farm bill passed by the Senate will continue to allow millionaires to collect unlimited farm subsidies while leaving conservation and other critical programs underfunded.

Farm income and prices for many crops are at record highs. The time is right to make reasonable reforms to farm subsidy programs and redirect the savings to conservation programs and other national priorities. In fact, if Congressional leaders don't ensure that these reasonable reforms are included in the final version of the farm bill produced by the House-Senate conference committee, President Bush may veto the bill, putting conservation programs at risk. The Bush Administration opposes both the House and Senate bills for their lack of reform and for their reliance on tax provisions to pay for increased funding for conservation, nutrition and other programs.

In order to avoid a veto, Congressional leaders must work with members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and with the White House to include reasonable reforms to subsidy programs in the final bill. They must also ensure that the final bill maintains the $5.1 billion in new conservation funding provided in the Senate's bill.

The 2008 Farm Bill should include

$5.1 billion in new spending for conservation programs, which are available to all farmers regardless of the crops they grow, and which produce important public benefits such as cleaner water, cleaner air and habitat for wildlife.
Reasonable reforms to farm subsidies that will result in a safety net that is there when farmers need it, but does not provide excessive payments when prices and incomes are high.

Conservation Program Recommendations to the Conference Committee

The Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) and Environmental Defense have released assessments of several Farm Bill conservation programs and specific recommendations to the House-Senate Conference Committee.