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| Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., right, talks with Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, before a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, where they discussed the debate on tax rates and the fiscal cliff. |
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Democratic chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee says she is willing to consider higher cuts to the food stamp program in an effort to include a massive five-year farm bill in negotiations on the so-called fiscal cliff.
Sen. Debbie
Stabenow, D-Mich., said that cuts to the food stamp program beyond the
$4 billion over 10 years included in a Senate-passed farm bill "are
something I am willing to talk about." A farm bill passed by the House
Agriculture Committee would include $16 billion in cuts over the same
amount of time.
Both amounts are relatively
small in relation to the program's total estimated cost - almost $800
billion over the next decade - but Stabenow's willingness to move on an
issue long sacred to Democrats shows progress in negotiations as
farm-state leaders scramble to get the bill done before the end of the
year. Stabenow and House Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., met
this week in hopes of reconciling their two versions of the bill.
The
farm bill could be part of a deal to avert the combination of tax
increases and automatic spending cuts due in January - dubbed the fiscal
cliff because the combination could plunge the economy into another
recession - because it saves money. A farm bill passed by the Senate in
June would save a total of $23 billion over 10 years, while a version
approved by the House Agriculture Committee in July would save $35
billion over the same period. Those total savings include the cuts to
food stamps and also from farm subsidies.
Stabenow
said in an interview with The Associated Press Wednesday that she is
also open to increasing the savings from $23 billion, saying it "depends
on the policy."
While willing to compromise,
Stabenow said there is "no way" she will agree to the level of food
stamp cuts in the House bill. Unlike the Senate bill, the proposed House
cuts would target practices by many states of waiving food stamp asset
and income limits for people receiving other welfare benefits. More than
47 million people now receive food stamps, and money to pay for that
program makes up 80 percent of the farm bill's cost.
Marrying
the farm bill with the fiscal cliff negotiations is the farm bill's
best hope of passage this year. The last farm bill, passed in 2008,
expired in September, and if the agriculture committees have to start
over next year they may have less money to deal with.
A
deal on the fiscal cliff is far from set, however, and the farm leaders
must wait for the White House and Republicans in Congress to agree on
larger details before they know if farm policy will be involved. The
agriculture committees must also resolve significant differences in how
farm subsidies would be cut.
Stabenow said it
is important for the agriculture committees to agree on a bipartisan
policy "in a way that works for agriculture" before others start making
decisions.
"They have to decide on the size of a larger package before they come to us," she said. "But we'll be ready."
Lucas
said last week that Republican House leaders are now "consumed by the
overall picture" and have not yet clarified how they want to proceed on
agriculture policy. House leaders have so far been lukewarm on a farm
bill, saying it doesn't have enough votes to go to the House floor. The
main source of friction has been food stamps, as some conservatives said
the bill needs to make deeper cuts in that program.
