Bummer Crop

"Freedom to Farm" meets the tyranny of the status quo.

Rick Henderson from the December 1995 issue

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But Baker isn't alone. When the Ag Committee voted on Freedom to Farm, four of the 27 Republicans defected, including three of the five most senior membersleading to a 27­22 defeat. Committee Democrats wanted to settle for smaller cuts, $4.4 billion, while the four dissident Repub licans were willing to go along with the full $13.4 billion in cuts but couldn't stomach the regulatory reforms.

After six days of arm-twisting but little compromising, Roberts gave up, announcing that the Ag Committee couldn't pass anything. The Budget Committeechaired by spending hawk John Kasich and the Rules Committee would instead rewrite U.S. farm policy.

Kasich's committee can recommend that the spending and regulatory changes in Freedom to Farm appear in the budget reconciliation billa likely prospect, says Bruce Cuthbertson, Kasich's press secretary. But there's a catch: Since the Agriculture Committee didn't approve the farm bill, House procedures require the Rules Committee rather than Budget Committee to decide what farm policy changes go before the full House.

And Rules Committee Chairman Gerald Solomon hails from upstate New York, where his suburban district is surrounded by dairy-farm country. He faces pressure from fellow New York Republican Sherwood Boehlert and the state's Farm Bureau to preserve dairy price supports that favor small farmers. The committee might follow the Ag Committee's dissenters and craft a bill that cuts subsidies without threatening regulatory cartels. The Rules Committee won't decide what the House will vote on until mid-October, after this story goes to press.

Meanwhile, Rep. Dan Miller (R-Fla.) has introduced a bill to kill the sugar program. His nearly 100 cosponsors include Armey and Kasich, along with Democrats Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Barney Frank (Mass.), and Sam Gibbons (Fla.). Roberts also promised Miller that his bill, while not a part of Freedom to Farm, will come to the floor for a vote this fall.

Miller is also a member of the Budget Committee. And since his committee has determined how much savings will come from farm programs, in an interview he assures me there's no way fellow Republicans will back away from a seven-year balanced budget and vote against $13.4 billion in savings from farm subsidies.

What if the Rules Committee lets members vote for budget cuts and no regulatory reforms? Miller's primary concern is the money. "The vote on [budget] reconciliation may be the most impor tant vote we'll make in our careers," Miller asserts. Gingrich, Armey, and Kasich have said nothing to contradict him.

But if Congress doesn't pass these regulatory reforms, agricultural bureaucrats and "esoterrorists" can continue to manipulate food prices, maintain unsound agricultural and ecological practices, and penalize consumers until 2002, when the next farm bill comes up. If Congress can't get agriculture policies right, balancing the budget could be little more than a short-term exercise in shuffling papers.