Agriculture Aid Bill Passes
House, Awaits Senate Action

(Editor's note: Initial expectations were that the Senate would vote as early as Monday on the agriculture aid bill hammered out last week in conference committee and quickly approved by the full House. As of presstime Wednesday, however, that apparently had not happened.)

WASHINGTON —(AP)— The U.S. House has agreed to the second big farm bailout in as many years, $8.7 billion in relief for producers battered by bad weather and the worldwide grain glut.

If the Senate gives its approval, which was expected this week, the measure goes to President Clinton for his signature. The first checks could go out later this month.

``Farmers can't wait. They need assistance now,'' said Rep. Joe Skeen, R-N.M. The House on Friday approved the measure 240-175.

Most of the money will go to grain and cotton farmers to compensate for a second year of depressed market prices, and there is $1.2 billion for producers who lost crops to drouth and floods.

But the measure also offers special relief for other producers — including a tax break for sugar farmers and $328 million in special subsidies for tobacco growers — as well as deals for some people who don't even farm:

— Low-income fishermen around Alaska's Norton Sound will get $15 million.

— The city of Stroud, Okla., which was hit by a tornado this spring, won't have to pay back some government loans.

— Sled dog owners in Alaska. The bill would require the Agriculture Department to reconsider rules requiring that the dogs be kept in pens, rather than tied up.

But the focus was on farmers, and some House members complained the bill didn't provide enough money for those they said needed help most: farmers and livestock producers hurt by the drouth and flooding.

Much of the cash would go to well-off farmers and landowners who don't need assistance, said Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio. ``Some of these people aren't the ones who are truly hurting in this economy.''

Others were unhappy the GOP leaders refused to consider allowing sales of food and medicine to Cuba or to block the government's new milk-pricing rules.

Many saw the bill as evidence that the market-oriented 1996 farm law has failed. The law was supposed to wean farmers from dependence on government subsidies. Last year's bailout cost nearly $6 billion.

``I wonder how much longer we can go on like this,'' said Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Texas.

Most major farm groups, however, just want Congress to finish work on the aid package. Disputes over the Cuba and dairy issues stalled its progress for more than a week.

``This bill is far from perfect, but it represents the best chance for getting assistance to producers in an expeditious manner,'' said Dean Kleckner, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation.

The money is included in a $69 billion appropriations bill for operations of USDA, with its myriad agriculture and nutrition programs, and the Food and Drug Administration.

Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., says the bill provides insufficient disaster relief for his state and has threatened to filibuster it. But Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said he expected the Senate to approve it with little delay.

Of the $8.7 billion in farm aid, about $7 billion is for compensation for low prices, including $5.5 billion that would double the direct ``market transition'' payments that farmers get under the 1996 farm law.

Also in the bill:

— A doubling of limits on subsidies farmers can receive. An individual grower could claim up to $460,000 a year in subsidies, said the Center for Rural Affairs, which opposes the higher limits.

— A requirement that packers report what they pay for cattle and hogs. Producers say that will make it easier for them to bargain with the few companies dominating meat processing.

— $400 million to cut the cost of crop insurance.

— $200 million for livestock producers hurt by drouth.

— $125 million in subsidies for dairy producers.

Another $500 million for hurricane-related farm losses in North Carolina is in a separate spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services.