March 18, 2009

The Obama administration is willing to negotiate with lawmakers in Congress who oppose a plan to cap a farm-subsidy program that pays out billions of dollars annually to land owners, US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Tuesday (March 17).

The fiscal year 2010 budget proposal for the USDA, unveiled on Feb. 26, asked Congress to cut back on subsidy checks to farmers or farm-land owners, but farm-state lawmakers and farm lobbying groups were irate.

When asked by reporters Monday if he were willing to consider working with lawmakers on altering the plan to limit farm subsidies, Vilsack said he wanted "to convey a sense of being willing to listen and to be open."

Vilsack said he met recently with key lawmakers who have criticized the subsidy-cutting proposal, House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

"I think the key in this [budget] process is to, first of all, understand that it is a process," Vilsack said. "And we're at the beginning of the process."

The Obama proposal is to eliminate direct farm subsidy payments to those with more than US$500,000 in sales revenue.

Those direct payments, as included in the 2008 farm bill, would pay out US$26 billion over five years. The payments aren't released in tough times or to only those suffering but rather are paid out to those who own the acreage tied to the subsidies.

Becoming "fiscally responsible" and cutting deficits are some of the administration's budget priorities and it's important to protect those priorities, Vilsack said, but "how you do that is obviously open to discussion."

Vilsack said he expects members of Congress to come up with their own suggestions for making the USDA more fiscally responsible and "there may be compromises."

After talking to Peterson and Harkin, Vilsack said he believes they understand the administration's priorities, "but there may be different ways to get there."