USDA Secretary Suggests Possible Two-Year Farm Bill Extension

Posted by Brian Gould Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:11:00 GMT

The U.S. Department of Agriculture may have to recommend a two-year extension to the current farm bill if Congress can’t produce a new unified bill that President George W. Bush would be willing to sign, Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said Wednesday.

Lawmakers and the Bush administration are close to finalizing an agreement on how to fund a new farm bill, Schafer said, but there is still a wide disagreement on farm subsidy reforms that the USDA has proposed, he said.

The 2002 farm bill was originally set to expire in October 2007, but Congress has passed short-term extensions while it continues to work on a replacement bill. The latest extension runs out on April 18.