| 11/12/2002 Cochran to Chair Senate Agriculture Committee - 11/6 DTN Cochran, who represents cotton and rice growers who are some of the biggest subsidy recipients in the country, is much more likely to defend the current farm program for which he voted that Lugar would have. Lugar voted against the current bill. It's unclear, however, how Cochran would react to changes in the farm program if trade negotiations succeed and U.S. negotiators agree to reduce trade-distorting subsidies in exchange for reductions in tariffs and other market restrictions in foreign countries. Cochran will become chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee because Lugar plans to give up his leadership rank on Agriculture to succeed the retiring Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., as the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee. Helms is also the second highest Republican on Agriculture, and his retirement leaves Cochran in line to become the No. 1 Republican on Agriculture. Cochran is also ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee and is expected to retain the position as the No. 1 Republican on that subcommittee. Holding both the top party position on the Agriculture committee and the top position on the appropriations subcommittee will make Cochran the single most powerful figure in agriculture in Washington and perhaps in congressional history, lobbyists say. "The National Cotton Council is probably popping the champagne corks," said a lobbyist who works for another farm organization. The same lobbyist warned, however, that Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is likely to continue his campaign to put payment limits on farm subsidies, which would have a disproportionate impact on southern growers. The farm bill is not scheduled for a rewrite until 2007, but the long-term prospects for leadership on the Senate Agriculture Committee are uncertain. There is speculation that Cochran's tenure as No. 1 Republican on Agriculture may last only one term because he is also the second highest ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee. If Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has to give up the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee after 2004 due to Republican term limits on chairmanships Cochran would surely want the position which controls the purse strings for the entire government. Next in line after Cochran are Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. and Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas. Harkin would be likely to take back the chairmanship if the Democrats were to recapture control in 2004. The biggest issue the committee is likely to face in the next few years is trade agreements that would require reductions in U.S. farm subsidies or a shift from so-called trade-distorting commodity payments to non-trade distorting subsidies. Those decisions may be delayed, however, until the 2007 rewrite. The death of Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., the retirement of Helms and the defeat of Sen Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark., have created three vacancies on the Senate Agriculture Committee as it is currently constituted. Leaders of each party in the Senate determine any changes in committee membership. It's unclear, however, whether the Republicans will keep the same number of senators on the committee. Of the newly elected senators, the most likely to take a strong interest in agriculture is Saxby Chambliss, the new senator from Georgia. Chambliss has been a member of the House Agriculture Committee and chairman of the General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittee. With the farm bill in place until 2007, senators are more likely to ask for other committee assignments, however. Lobbyists said that if Harkin remained chairman rather than Cochran it would have been more likely that the committee would have devoted attention to issues of food safety, particularly in the meat industry, and to the proposals to limit packer ownership of livestock. Cochran is also likely to devote less attention to conservation than Harkin would have, particularly the new conservation entitlement program Harkin added to the farm bill, but that the Agriculture Department has not yet implemented. Both Lugar and Cochran have been strong supporters of nutrition programs including food stamps, an indication that conservative challenges to those programs would be unlikely. As part of welfare reform, however, Congress is considering legislation that would give the states more power over the food stamp program. If those changes are enacted, they could endanger the ability to get urban and suburban votes for future farm bills. In the House elections, the biggest news in agriculture is that, with the retirement of Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif., Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., will become the second highest-ranking Democrat, below Rep. Charles Stenholm, D-Texas. Related Link: http://www.dtnnewswire.com |
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