News

Grassley: Super panel should hear from ag

Senate Ag Committee member Charles Grassley of Iowa says he hopes the so-called Super Committee in Congress will consult with the agriculture committees about federal budget cuts, “I want the Super Committee to rely on the (agriculture) committees because I think if they don’t rely on the committees they aren’t going to have the expertise and the knowledge base to accomplish what they want,” Grassley says, “Plus, I think it’d be more difficult to get a product through the Congress.”

Grassley told reporters he doubts the ag committees will have time to write a Farm Bill before the October deadline when debt-reduction recommendations to the Super Committee are due, “It ought to be fair and proportional to other cuts of other programs. Anyway, I would hope then that they would rely upon where we think that money ought to come from.”

Grassley says the Super Committee might like his hard-cap farm payment limit proposal but he’s not sure about the Senate Ag Committee, “We had a majority the last time we had a vote up but we were short of 60, so, obviously, we didn’t get it done.”

The Super Committee is charged with finding between $1.2 to $1.5 billion in cuts to the federal deficit by Thanksgiving.

AUDIO: Conference Call with Senator Charles Grassley (8:00 mp3)