Chairman Combest

November 6, 2001

The Chairman made his case! At a luncheon yesterday I was with House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest and he laid it on the line. He acknowledged that the farm bill that he crafted, that passed the House, has been the target of critical analysis coming from not only some in the Senate but also the Bush administration.

Here is what the Chairman said: if they didn't like it, they had plenty of time to offer their ideas. They didn't. USDA could have been engaged. USDA was invited but didn't' show. We held hearings and passed the bill out of committee in July. Where were the critics? He went to great lengths to make clear that he is not in a fight with the White House. He is a very good friend of President George W. Bush. Years ago when Bush ran for a House seat, Combest helped. Bush lost. Later Combest ran and Bush helped him. Combest won.

Having pointed that out, Chairman Combest said he put together a bill that he felt made the most sense. The budget provided for 73.5 billion dollars in extra ag spending over 10 years. "I didn't ask for that number," he said. "The Budget set the number. That was it."

The Budget is like a room. We know what size the room is. Then we arranged the furniture inside the room. There are a lot of competing interests that would like to arrange the furniture differently. The environmental lobby wants more spent on conservation. The non-program crops want more spent on them. We tried to balance the interest of all.

Now we have punted the ball to the Senate. I think our bill is a good bill. It complies with the World Trade Organization. It's up to the Senate now. That's the gist of what Chairman Combest said.

My take on this is that he did a very good job making his case. We'll see what the Senate can do. They are not nearly as well organized as the House. There isn't much time left. And the clock is ticking.