House moves to set up farm bill conference

The House is set to vote on the rule for the conference committee bill Friday and on going to conference, as well as several motions to instruct on Saturday.

One motion would alter current quota limits for sugar imports and the second would address differences on crop insurance limits. 

{mosads}The crop insurance motion to instruct is sponsored by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). It would force the House conferees to accept a Senate amendment to the Senate farm bill that limits crop insurance subsidies for those making more than $750,000 per year. The payment limitation is opposed by many rural Republicans but favored by deficit hawks.

The motion to instruct on sugar is sponsored by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.). It is supported by sugar users and opposed by sugar growers. 

The Pitts proposal would allow the Department of Agriculture to more frequently change the tariff-rate quota for sugar. Pitts believes the change would avoid price spikes and lower sugar prices for consumers.  

A Pitts aide noted that the change is much less far-reaching than the repeal of a Feedstock Flexibility Program, which Pitts proposed previously. That program requires the government to buy up sugar for energy production, thereby increasing prices. 

A GOP aide said the timing of the farm bill move should not necessarily be taken as a sign that the GOP wants to wrap the farm bill into any debt-limit negotiation.  

The 2008 farm bill was retroactively extended by a New Year’s Eve deal on the tax “fiscal cliff.” That farm bill extension expired on Oct. 1.