Iraq bill’s extras for farmers, Gulf Coast have little traction

As the House prepares to vote on the Iraq supplemental budget later this week, it appears that the sweeteners for farm-state and Gulf Coast lawmakers have had little effect so far in winning over undecided Democrats, let alone Republicans.
As a case in point, heavy hitters in the farm community are not aggressively lobbying members to support the $3.7 billion in disaster assistance that Democratic leaders included in the supplemental budget.

{mosads}Representatives of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the American Farm Bureau Federation said they are telling members they support the disaster assistance — but are not insisting that members vote in favor of the Iraq supplemental to move the long-stalled farm aid provisions.    

“We have not been telling people they should swallow the larger issue to get disaster assistance through,” said a source with the NCBA.

The aid was included in the Iraq supplemental to win support from conservative Democrats as well as farm-state Republicans. But the NCBA source said he knew of no Republicans willing to support the Iraq bill because of the farm assistance.

Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman said his group is telling lawmakers that it supports the disaster assistance in the Iraq bill. Another Farm Bureau representative, however, echoed the NCBA message by saying the Iraq issue is too sensitive for the Farm Bureau to insist on the bill as a vehicle for the farm assistance.

If the Iraq supplemental fails, Stallman said, the Farm Bureau will look for another vehicle for disaster assistance.
Other groups, however, are apparently asking members to swallow their problems with the Iraq supplemental to win approval for the disaster-assistance package. The bill represents the No. 1 priority for the National Association of Wheat Growers, according to spokeswoman Melissa George.

While the group has no position on Iraq, it has been pressing for more than two years for more disaster aid to drought- and flood-ravaged farmers, George said. “We want to see it passed and will continue to work to see it passed,” she said.
Several Democrats are likely supporters of the agriculture-disaster assistance but remain undecided on the Iraq bill, including Reps. Stephanie Herseth (S.D.) and Collin Peterson (Minn.). Dan Boren (Okla.) yesterday said he is leaning against the bill.

The budget’s Gulf Coast aid is another example. Despite billions of dollars for Hurricane Katrina relief, Gulf Coast Republicans are largely united against the Iraq bill. Some have called the insertion of the funding “inappropriate” and demeaning to Gulf Coast residents.

Rep. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-La.), whose district was spared by Katrina but ravaged by Hurricane Rita, said he found it “disgusting” that Democrats were “using our needs as bargaining chips for political” gain.

“I believe this belittles our Gulf Coast residents,” he said.

Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), who serves on the House Appropriations Committee and voted against the measure, also voiced strong opposition to the bill during a press conference yesterday.

“We are not going to take this cart full of whatever it’s full of on the backs of our troops,” said Granger. “This is an emergency supplemental for our war and the troops.”

Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) also said that he would vote against the supplemental in its current state. But he said he would consider the bill if the Iraq benchmarks and Iraq war timetables were stripped out.

 “People in Mississippi understand that Iraq [funding] and Katrina [relief] should be considered separately,” he said.
Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), another appropriator who voted against the supplemental in committee, echoed Pickering. An Alexander spokeswoman said that he “strongly opposes the timeline” and the benchmarks in the bill, but he would reconsider it if those provisions were struck.

Louisiana Republican Reps. Richard Baker and Jim McCrery also said they would be voting against the supplemental.

McCrery described the funding as an “inappropriate” addition to the supplemental, while Baker said it was an “irresponsible and disgusting ploy” to use the funds as barter for votes.

Other members contended that current funding for Katrina aid is there, but remains tied up in bureaucracy. Rather than add more money, they say, lawmakers should make sure that the funding is properly allocated.

“There is $80 billion in the pipeline for Katrina victims that [has] not been used that the federal government has already authorized and appropriated. It’s tied up in whatever kind bureaucracy of whatever level [of government] below us,” said Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.), who joined Granger at the press conference. Her district was not directly impacted by the storm.

Reps. Bobby Jindal (R-La.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) could not be immediately reached for comment.