bjbj"9"9 JUDY WOODRUFF: Tonight, we begin
a series of reports on the unfinished business
Congress left behind when it took off for
its August recess.
Among the issues remaining on the table: whether
to extend the Bush-era tax cuts, protecting
the nation from cyber-attacks, helping the
Postal Service's fiscal picture, and a farm
bill that would have provided emergency relief
for drought-stricken areas.
More than half the counties in the continental
U.S. shown here in red have been declared
eligible for federal disaster relief because
of the drought.
The farm bill is where we start tonight, with
reporter Daniel Newhauser.
He covers Congress for Roll Call.
And thank you for being here.
DANIEL NEWHAUSER, Roll Call: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, with such a clear need
out there, why didn't Congress get this done
on the farm bill?
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: Well, the major problem
with it is that 80 percent of this bill funds
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,
otherwise known as food stamps.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Eighty percent?
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: That is about $400 billion.
Now, the House bill cuts about $16 billion.
That is simply too much for Democrats and
not enough for a lot of conservative Republicans,
who want to cut more when this gets to the
floor.
But I have been told by some Republican aides
that if they brought this thing to the floor,
the fight, the rift among the Republicans
would be so devastating, that it would really
hurt them electorally because it's so close
to the election in November.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, you are saying there was
a division?
Tell us about the division among Republicans
over this.
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: Sure.
Yes, basically, it is a matter of philosophy.
They do not agree with food stamps.
They want to cut upwards of $30 billion.
But the leaders knew that they could not cut
that much in the original bill, or they would
never be able to...
JUDY WOODRUFF: The Republican leadership.
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: Exactly, or else they would
never get Democratic support.
And they know that they can't pass it with
Republican votes alone.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, now, who is it on the Republican
side who is opposing, who want deeper cuts
in the food stamps?
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: Well, for instance, there
is a congressman from Kansas named Tim Huelskamp.
He has vowed to offer an amendment if this
comes to the floor to cut $33 billion.
That is what they would have cut in the Paul
Ryan budget.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, a serious, a serious cut.
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: It's very serious cut.
JUDY WOODRUFF: But what you're saying is there
wasn't unanimity among Republicans.
As you say, many of them realized they could
not cut that much in order to...
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: Absolutely.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So Speaker Boehner was facing
a real division in his own...
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: He still is.
He said -- he was the first one to say last
week at a press conference that he just doesn't
see 218 votes in the middle to pass this thing.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, was it -- were food stamps
the main -- the only disagreement over this
farm bill?
There was agreement on the drought portion
of it -- I mean on the farm -- the farm portion
of it?
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: A lot of agreement.
And there's some minor issues that would -- they
would probably be able to hash out.
Direct payments to farmers and subsidies are
always an issue, but really the food stamp
issue was the major force in this not getting
through Congress.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So talk a little bit more,
Daniel, about who is on which side on the
food stamps.
Is it the most conservative Republicans?
Is it regional, geographic?
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: Well, every farm bill is
regional to a certain extent.
We have got a good example here in Iowa, a
drought-ravaged state and a huge agricultural
center.
We have got Steve King, unarguably one of
the most conservative Republicans in the Republican
Congress, and he has been for some time.
He is in a very tough race against Christie
Vilsack, not coincidentally, Tom Vilsack's
wife, the agriculture secretary.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Democrat.
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: That's right.
That's right.
And he would object to SNAP cuts, or he would
object to food stamps in any normal setting.
But because his state is such an agricultural
center and because the drought is so bad,
he wants this thing passed.
And he is being hit back home not just by
Christie Vilsack, but by ag groups and by
constituents.
We are already seeing this sort of pressure
to get this thing done.
JUDY WOODRUFF: In fact, you were telling us
earlier today that the leadership, the Republican
leadership, was looking at the kind of pressure
that these members were going to face as they
went home.
What do they expect is going to happen over
the -- it is a five-week recess?
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: Five-week recess.
It may take nothing short of a grassroots
groundswell of constituent anger, pressure
from ag groups to get this thing done when
members come back.
The divisions have been that bad.
They tried to pass a one-year extension of
the 2008 farm bill, had to pull that last-minute
because they didn't have the votes for that
either.
They just barely squeaked through this drought
aid package in the House, but the Senate refused
to take it up because they in fact have passed
a five-year farm bill.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And they were not willing to
go along with these deeper -- with the deeper
food stamp...
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: Well, that wasn't actually
in the House drought aid package, but there
would have been cuts to conservation programs
and environmental programs.
JUDY WOODRUFF: ...I don t want to confuse
this because that was a separate -- it was
a separate issue.
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: That's right.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, what is seen at stake,
in terms of looking at the farm communities
around the country?
And they are facing, as we just described,
this terrible drought.
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: Right.
JUDY WOODRUFF: What -- what do they face?
What is at stake here?
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: Well, this legislation expires
on September 30.
After that, they would pretty much lose subsidies,
lose emergency disaster relief.
And right now, the people who are being hit
the hardest are livestock producers, cattle,
sheep, and also tree producers, because of
the drought, but also because of wildfires
that have happened in this past year.
The emergency relief that was passed in the
current farm bill actually expired in 2011.
So there -- they have no -- they have nothing
to fall back on right now.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, just quickly, what are
the prospects for when Congress comes back
in September?
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: We will see.
Really, like I said, it will take this big
constituent anger and members really feeling
like they are in danger for their jobs if
they don't pass something.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Daniel Newhauser of Roll Call,
thank you very much.
DANIEL NEWHAUSER: Thank you.
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State JUDY WOODRUFF: Tonight, we begin a series
of reports on the unfinished business Congress
left behind when it took off for its August
recess Normal Microsoft Office Word N]g1t
JUDY WOODRUFF: Tonight, we begin a series
of reports on the unfinished business Congress
left behind when it took off for its August
recess Title Microsoft Office Word Document
MSWordDoc Word.Document.8
