By Marc Heller – Waterton Daily Times (30 Oct 11)
WASHINGTON — For three New York lawmakers, serving on the Agriculture Committee is a badge of honor. But on the committee’s main order of business — crafting a five-year package of programs on dairy policy, farm subsidies and nutrition programs — they appear to be all but locked out of the barn.
The farm bill usually deliberated every five years by the House and Senate agriculture committees is being hashed out this year behind closed doors by the committees’ top leaders and may ultimately be decided by the joint committee on deficit reduction, also known as the “supercommittee.” Unless the committee fails miserably — which is possible — all indications are that Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Reps. William L. Owens and Christopher P. Gibson, the only New Yorkers on any of the panels, will never be afforded a vote on a farm bill, let alone be able to offer provisions in the committees.
“It’s never coming back to the ag committee,” said Mary Kay Thatcher, a lobbyist for the American Farm Bureau Federation.
