Congress is scheduled to leave Friday, September 21, to return home to campaign, leaving only five legislative days left before recess. The major item on the House’s agenda this week was the fiscal year 2013 Continuing Resolution (CR), which includes funding for USDA and related agencies. Congress and the administration had previously agreed on the outlines of the six-month CR late last July, which will fund the federal government through March 27, 2013. Overall funding is slightly above the current year level, which is roughly the same level as agreed to in the 2011 debt-limit deal. The House approved the CR last night by vote of 329 to 91, and the Senate may consider it next week.
Meanwhile, with the current Farm Bill set to expire at the end of this month, around 60 agricultural groups rallied this week in Washington to urge Congress to approve a new Farm Bill. The Senate passed its version of the legislation in June, and the House Agriculture Committee approved its bill in early July. However, the major stumbling block to getting a final bill enacted is that only a few legislative days remain before September 30 when the current Farm Bill expires. Without a new Farm Bill, the big question is whether there will be an extension of the current law. The House had considered passing a one-year extension just before the August recess.
However, some on Capitol Hill discussed this week not approving an extension and waiting to deal with the Farm Bill until the lame duck session after the elections. If there is no extension of the current law, operation of many Farm Bill programs by USDA reverts to the original 1949 farm law (all Farm Bills since 1949 have been amendments to this law), resulting in huge increases in prices for some commodities. However, those suggesting this approach say that an extension of existing law is not actually needed until approximately January 1, because USDA could delay until then implementing a reversion to the 1949 law.