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Budget a hurdle for more

flexible US farm rules

WASHINGTON: Lawmakers aim to give U.S. farmers more power to act on their own but the first step toward the goal -- agreeing on farm subsidy cuts -- is still an obstacle, less than a month before a deadline.

The first step could prove pivotal because the major "crop flexibility" plans were drafted to save different amounts of money. The allure of a plan could fade if it fails to meet congressional budget targets or proves too severe.

Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Richard Lugar says it will be early September, when Congress returns from recess, before a agreement is likely. The deadline for committees to agree is September 22.

"All of my abilities will be (directed) to get that agreement," Lugar, Indiana Republican, told reporters earlier this week.

Analysts say Republicans should expect no help from House and Senate Democrats, who have balked at the cuts mandated in the GOP plan to balance the federal budget in seven years.

President Clinton has suggested $4.2 billion in reduced farm spending -- less than one-third of what Congress has ordered.

Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman told reporters this week that he was working with the authors of three major plans -- "There are good points in all of them." The administration has suggested its own crop flexibility plan.

"In my old legislative view, I can begin to see a blending take place of these proposals, which is probably what's going to end up happening," said Glickman, who served nine terms in the House.

There was speculation among lobbyists that Congress, in writing the new farm-policy law, would meld the two leading plans, proposed by House Agriculture Committee chairman Pat Roberts, Kansas Republican, and Senator Thad Cochran. All of the flexibility plans would relax federal restrictions on what farmers plant.

The Roberts "Freedom to Farm" plan would set a limit on annual farm spending but give farmers wide discretion to decide which crops to grow and guarantee them a federal check for seven years. It would hit the House target of saving $13.4 billion through 2002.

Cochran, Mississippi Republican, would save $9.7 billion by making 25 percent of the wheat, feed grains, cotton and rice acreage ineligible for subsidies, compared to the current 15 percent. Farmers would have the option of planting up to 100 percent of their land to alternative crops but would not be paid subsidies on the land.

Lugar has little support for his proposal to cut crop subsidy rates and ax the major U.S. export subsidy program. Lugar says his plan is one of "several alternatives" and he is trying to weave together a plan that can pass his committee.

Roberts has the advantage that his plan is the only one pending before his committee. When he filed it as a bill, he said he believed he had the support to pass it.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is host to three plans -- offered by Cochran, Lugar and Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. The Daschle plan would adopt so-called marketing loans to save $4.2 billion and target aid to family-size farms.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, Kansas Republican, also is a member of the Agriculture Committee and has been keeping his options open, said one person familiar with negotiations.-Reuter