October 5, 2012 – With Congress adjourned until after November elections, the existing Farm Bill has (temporarily) lapsed, along with nearly all Energy Title programs. The Farm Bill’s successful Energy Title has a fighting chance of survival with support in both parties and both chambers.

Farm Bill Background and Status

The US Farm Bill establishes authority for the Department of Agriculture to operate and fund a wide range of programs to feed hungry Americans, conserve soils on our farmlands, stabilize and guide agricultural markets, and advance a more energy efficient agricultural sector that produces diverse forms and types of renewable energy.

The many elements of the comprehensive Farm Bill attract considerable debate when it is renewed, every five years. Without Farm Bill passage many programs, including clean energy and many soil conservation programs, lose the authority to operate.

The current Farm Bill expired on September 30, 2012. The full Senate passed a Farm Bill in June but only the House Agriculture Committee has acted to date, passing a controversial Farm Bill that Speaker John Boehner has described as lacking the support of a majority in the House. Without passage of a Farm Bill by the full House, the bill is stalled.

The House has now adjourned until after the November general elections, and House Speaker John Boehner has said that they will take up a Farm Bill during the “Lame Duck” session in November. A discharge petition has been filed in the House which, if a majority of House members (218) sign on will bring the Bill to the floor. They are far from that goal at present.

A Continuing Resolution was passed with includes continuing authority and funding for select programs, such as nutrition. The only Farm Bill clean energy program included is the Rural Energy for America Program – REAP – which would receive less than $5 million in funding, very modest levels. The rest have now are in a state of “suspended animation.”

Clean Energy Program Status

Because 2012 Farm Bill discussions occurred under a cloud of fiscal austerity, advocates faced demands to reduce the number of programs we seek to preserve. ELPC and others have prioritized the core programs shown in Table 1, below.

ELPC supports these programs because they accelerate development of a broad range of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies that benefit the environment and agriculture while increasing jobs and sustainable development. We will address substantive policy changes in legislation in a later post.

Table 1: Core Energy Title Programs

However, it is not enough that Congress continue these programs if there is no funding. The big difference is whether the bill provides “mandatory” funding, which is available every year unless specifically reduced by appropriations committees.

The other alternative is to provide “discretionary” funding, which would need to be provided annually by appropriations committees. Discretionary funding is illusory – no energy programs from either the 2002 or 2008 Farm Bills with only discretionary funding authority were actually funded. Austerity supporters seek to drastically cut discretionary spending for years to come. For these reasons, discretionary funding only likely means no actual funding.

Senate Passed Farm Bill with Energy Title with Mandatory Funding

On April 26 2012, the Senate Agriculture Committee took up the draft Farm Bill, which had no mandatory funding for Energy Title programs. The Committee passed a bipartisan amendment, led by Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) that provided $800 million in mandatory funding for core Energy Title programs (detail in Table 2, below). The $800 million for Energy Title funding was made possible by a reduction in costs for assistance to upland cotton growers.

Other bipartisan Senate sponsors of the Energy Title amendment included Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and Senators Harkin (D-IA), Grassley (R-IA), Bennet (D-CO), Thune (R-SD), Casey (D-PA), Klobuchar (D-MN), Cochran (R-MS), Brown (D-OH) and Hoeven (R-ND).  The bipartisan Energy Title amendment was supported by six Democrats and five Republicans from the Midwest, South and Great Plains.

The full Senate passed the committee’s Farm Bill without change to Energy Title programs as amended in Committee. The Senate is now waiting on action from the House.

House Farm Bill Stalled: Committee Provided Energy Title but no Real Funding

The House has now adjourned until after the November elections. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said that the bill voted out by the House Agriculture Committee lacks 218 votes needed to pass. Nonetheless, he has vowed action on the Farm Bill during the “lame duck” session, along with other pressing legislation dealing with topics including the “fiscal cliff” of spending cutbacks and expiring tax cuts that threaten to send the economy into recession.  With a stalled Farm Bill, agriculture is the first over the “fiscal cliff.”

The House Agriculture Committee passed a Farm Bill preserving roughly the same Energy Title programs as the Senate Farm Bill. However, in terms of funding, the House Agriculture Committee’s Farm Bill completely eliminated mandatory funding while providing only discretionary funding. As noted above, however, discretionary funding-only has never materialized for Energy Title programs in the past.

Comparing Energy Title Funding

Both Farm Bills in Congress reduce Energy Title funding compared to the 2008 Farm Bill. As the 2008 Farm Bill only covered 4 years, the comparison is a little tricky. However the overall funding provided in the bills is provided in the chart below:

The Senate bill reduced mandatory Energy Title funding by about 38% on an annual average basis. However, the House Farm Bill eliminates all authority for mandatory funding, leaving only discretionary funding authority. While this is better than complete program elimination, the prospects are poor for seeing actual discretionary appropriations made as the House has passed legislation vowing to deeply cut all discretionary funding.

The following chart provides a detailed breakdown of funding for the programs that still remain. The following programs from the 2008 Farm Bill would be entirely eliminated under both bills: Repowering Assistance, Rural Self-Sufficiency Initiative, Feedstock Flexibility Program, Forest Biomass for Energy, Biofuels Infrastructure Study, and Renewable Fertilizer Study.

Funding Comparisons: Farm Bill Energy Title Programs