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Agricultural News


American Farm Bureau Chief of Staff Hopes for Productive Lame Duck Session

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 17:58:56 CST

American Farm Bureau Chief of Staff Hopes for Productive Lame Duck Session
The 2012 elections are over and not much has changed. We have the same president, the same Democrat-controlled Senate, and the same Republican-controlled House of Representatives. What does that mean for the future of farm policy?


Ron Hays, Radio Oklahoma Network's farm director, recently spoke with Dale Moore, chief of Staff for the American Farm Bureau, about the immediate future.


For openers, Moore said, he would like to see Washington take on unfinished business in the upcoming lame duck session. He said he would like to sit down with the White House, the Senate, and the House and say, "'The playing field is pretty much the same map as we have now-a few changes here and there-so why not clean up what you've got already out on the field? We've got the farm bill, we've got tax issues. We've got a whole barrel-full of issues surrounding sequestration, the budget and the fiscal cliff. Why not get those things cleaned up, get something in place? The election's over.   The campaigning's over-at least for 20 or 30 minutes. Why don't we sit down and try to get started on next year by cleaning up what we haven't gotten done this year?'"


Moore said that he sees plenty of opportunities to get the five-year farm bill passed in the lame duck session.


"There is an opportunity and there are a multitude of ways that you can take advantage of those opportunities. But each one has its plusses and minuses. It's going to depend on the Speaker, and the House Majority Leader and how they want to proceed forward. And it's also going to depend on all of us , you know, boots on the ground, the farmers and ranchers that we represent, to make sure that when this goes forward we're ready to make sure that our elected officials let this leadership know 'we want you to get this farm bill passed.' Time is a very precious commodity any time in Washington, but particularly during a lame duck."


Moore said he's very optimistic the farm bill can be passed during the lame duck because nothing will materially change in Congress after the first of the year.   He said the potential stumbling block will be in the nutrition title, but if the bill can be brought to the House floor, he believes Ag Committee Chairman Frank Lucas and Ranking Member Colin Peterson can manage to get it passed.


Tax policies are another situation that Moore hopes will be addressed. He says preventing the increase in the estate tax is very important to farmers and ranchers, but there are other taxes that need to be addressed in the lame duck as well.


"Estate tax is kind of our poster child for the whole series of various tax provisions: capital gains, expensing and a few others that have come into that list, and our hope is that extension of those provisions is part of the compromise on however they manage to avoid this fiscal cliff. Because, clearly, that kind of an impact that the fiscal cliff represents is going to have reverberations all across America not just in agriculture."


As to his prediction for what will ultimately be accomplished during the lame duck session, Moore said it's anyone's guess at this point.


   
   






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