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Home | Politically Connected | National Politics | In Congress
Minn. senators take active role in farm bill
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WASHINGTON — Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, who broke with fellow Republicans last month in an effort to move the farm bill forward, said Friday he had encouraged fellow Republicans this week to drop their objections after the Democratic leadership agreed to allow a limited number of amendments.
On Thursday, senators removed a major sticking point by reaching an agreement that allows each party to offer 20 amendments.
As the Senate debated the farm bill Friday, the state's other senator, Democrat Amy Klobuchar, offered her amendment denying farmers making more than $750,000 from receiving government payments.
Last month, Coleman was one of just four Republicans to vote with Democrats to break a GOP filibuster on the bill. Republicans blamed the Democratic leadership for trying to limit amendments.
On a conference call with reporters Friday, Coleman said he told Republicans on the Senate Agriculture Committee that they had no reason to object to moving forward, with Democrats now allowing a set number of amendments.
"Folks understood that, agreed, and the thought was, 'Let's go to our leader, and let's get this deal done,"' he said. "And that happened."
Erin Hamm, a spokeswoman for the committee's top Republican, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, confirmed that Coleman urged the members to accept a deal, adding that he "was instrumental in helping the farm bill process get to this point."
Coleman, who faces a tough re-election battle next year, said, "My (GOP) colleagues understand agriculture and they understand politics."
"Good policy is good politics. This certainly is good policy," he added.
Klobuchar is hopeful that her amendment will be one of the 20 that Democrats offer.
"I think it's a strong likelihood it will be considered," she said in a telephone interview. "My first goal is to get the farm bill passed. I'm very happy to have it moving."
Klobuchar's amendment would limit payments to full-time farmers making less than $750,000 a year and part-time farmers making less than $250,000, after expenses.
"This would ensure that urban millionaires do not pocket the farm subsidies intended for hardworking farmers," Klobuchar said in a Senate speech.
Klobuchar's proposal brought a response in opposition from Chambliss. In his own speech, he said that the farm bill already includes a provision that reduces the income level for determining program eligibility by 70 percent over two years.
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Fred Frommer can be reached at ffrommer(at)ap.org
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