WE DID IT!

Thank you for speaking out - the House pulled their sham extension bill from the floor yesterday!

Across the nation, farmers’ livelihoods are withering in an intense, record-breaking drought.  Congress could be doing something about this right now – they could be passing the 2012 Farm Bill, which funds critical disaster assistance programs that are our farmers and ranchers’ safety net in times like these.  But are they working to pass the 2012 Farm Bill?  No.  Instead, late last week, in a surprise move, the House of Representatives instead moved to extend parts of the 2008 Farm Bill through next year, including drought assistance but excluding programs like the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program.

This isn’t a good-faith effort to help farmers.  It’s a dirty, cynical trick.  It uses the real need for disaster assistance as an excuse to attack all sorts of important programs and kick the farm bill can down the road until next year.

The House is set to vote on this sham extension this week.   There’s no reason for this – there’s a draft 2012 Farm Bill ready and waiting in the wings.  The House is instead choosing to play politics at the expense of taxpayers, farmers, and the environment!

Speak out today! Start by entering your ZIP code below:

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This extension would:

  • - Make deep, unnecessary cuts to conservation programs – the very farm programs that reduce drought impacts.
  • - Strip all funding from dozens of programs that support beginning farmers, rural communities, and food entrepreneurs.
  • - Continue outdated and wasteful “direct payments” – despite bipartisan agreement in the House and Senate that our farm subsidy system needs major reform.
  • - Read more details on how bad this bill is on our blog.

NSAC's official statement on the extension:

"NSAC vehemently opposes the dirty extension bill filed today by House majority leadership.  Passage of this bill would ensure there is no action this year on the 2012 Farm Bill.  It prevents agricultural reform from happening.  It spends another $5 billion on direct payments that both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees agreed to terminate.  It kills innovative job-creating programs.  It proposes to slash farm conservation spending by three-quarters of a billion dollars at a time when pressure on the natural resource base is intense, which would serve only to make the magnitude and cost of future disasters even higher.  Under a closed rule, it denies Representatives the ability to amend the bill on the floor.   In our view the choice for Representatives next week is clear – vote down this dirty extension bill and demand a clean vote on disaster assistance for livestock and specialty crop growers."