DEP Press Advisory on Deer Hunting Cancellation, October 2, 2001

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approved.

The House approved an amendment moving $1 billion in crop subsidies Spestel into rural development. But the farm bill still would boost commodity programs by $49 billion, or about 63 percent, over the next 10 years. Conservation spending would grow by $16 billion, or nearly 75 percent.

The bill counts on using $73 billion in surplus funds that were set aside in a congressional budget agreement earlier this year.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to start writing its version of the bill this month.

The committee's chairman. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, along with Sen. Dick Lugar of Indiana, the senior Republican, want to boost conservation programs. Harkin is pushing a plan to make special incentive payments to farmers who improve their farming practices.

"The momentum for this kind of reform is going to build and build," said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group.

Critics of the House amendment said it would have taken too much land out of production, harming rural businesses in the process.

"We don't need the federal government controlling more land," said Rep. ToniOsbofhe, R-T^eb;

A program that pays farmers to idle environmentally sensitive land would have been expanded from the current 34 million acres to 45 million acres, 5 million more than the bill allows. The amendment also would have provided up to $500 million annually - 10 times what the bill permits - to farmers near urban areas who pledge not to sell land to developers.

The House voted 239-177 Thursday against a proposed reduction in price supports for sugar. The program keeps U.S. sugar prices artificially high, raising costs for candy and food manufacturers.

The House approved 235-183 an amendment that would annually shift $100 million in crop subsidies to rural water grants and other development programs. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., said the money amounted to a "crumb for rural America."

The bill is H.R. 2646.

On the Net:

House committee: http://www.agriculture.house.gov

© 2001 The Associated Press

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/Al 1545-2001 Oct5.html 10/5/01

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