Farm bills’ savings would be far less

New estimate is new hurdle

WASHINGTON — Farm bills passed by the Senate and a House committee last year would save far less money than previously thought, according to a new estimate released Friday.

A report from the Congressional Budget Office says a Senatepassed farm bill would save $1.3 billion annually, as opposed to the $2.3 billion per year in savings estimated last year. A bill passed by the House Agriculture Commit- tee would save $2.7 billion a year instead of $3.5 billion.

While the amounts may seem small in comparison to the bills’ $100 billion-a-year cost, the estimates are another roadblock for the embattled legislation and the farm-state lawmakers who have fruitlessly tried to persuade House leadership to move forward on it.

A main argument House Agriculture Committee chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., made in favor of passage is that the bill would save taxpayers money.

The farm bill sets policy for farm subsidies, programs to protect environmentally-sensitive land, rural development and food stamps. Food stamps, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, make up roughly 80 percent of the legislation’s cost.

The farm bills passed last year died at the end of the congressional session after GOP House leaders said they did not have the votes to pass it. Farm-state leaders will have to write a new bill this year, but have not yet started.

The budget office said it lowered the estimates because savings in cuts to the food stamp program were lower than previously thought. The estimates also changed because of fluctuating crop prices.