This afternoon, Sen. Chuck Grassley is scheduled to offer an amendment to the farm bill with Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota that would limit farm payments and target assistance to small and mid-size family farmers.
The Grassley/Dorgan amendment would establish a combined payment limitation of $275,000 for a husband and wife and would close loopholes that allow individuals to evade the limitations and receive multiple payments. Grassley was blocked from offering his amendment during debate on the farm bill last year and worked to keep support for the amendment alive during the congressional recess.
In addition, Grassley is a sponsor of a production contact amendment, which will be offered during the farm bill debate. The amendment would close a loophole in the Packers and Stockyards Act to include livestock production contracts under its jurisdiction. It also provides livestock producers the ability to discuss terms of their contract with certain people such as their attorney, banker, landlord and government agencies charged with protecting a party to the contract.
During the debate, Grassley also will be seeking to make the farm bill better from a trade standpoint so Iowa farmers don't face retaliatory action by world trading partners. Grassley also is ready to fight any effort by meatpackers to strip the farm bill of an amendment he got passed last year that restricts packer ownership of livestock.