Ag Policy Blog

Monday, Monday: Can You Trust That Day?

Chris Clayton
By  Chris Clayton , DTN Ag Policy Editor
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The Mamas and the Papas were the first to warn us about having high hopes on Monday.

"But whenever Monday comes - but whenever Monday comes, You can find me crying all of the time. Monday, Monday, you can't trust that day."

"Monday, Monday" was the Mamas and Papas only No. 1 hit in the U.S.

Now, 47 years later, we place our hopes on Monday. Monday is now the latest, greatest big day in Washington for the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 farm bill. A pair of top Capitol Hill websites now report House conferees to the farm bill and their congressional staffers are being alerted to a possible agreement that could demand meetings as early as Monday.

CQ Roll Call reported that both Republican and Democratic staffs on the House Agriculture Committee "indicate that the goal is to get the conference report on the floor next week, which would entail the report filed on Monday."

The House will not be in session the latter part of the week.

CQ Roll Call and Politico reported that the memo sent to staffs for House GOP conferees indicates they have to be in town Monday morning for either a full conference meeting or a GOP conference meeting to discuss the farm-bill agreement and collect signatures.

So there you have it.


Other possible Monday music references that may fit the bill: "Blue Monday" by New Order and "Manic Monday" by the Bangles (I was a Susanna Hoffs fan.)

Link to the Politico piece: http://dld.bz/…

Follow me on Twitter @ChrisClaytonDTN

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Freeport IL
1/27/2014 | 3:54 PM CST
As noted in the American Thinker blog; "Under the pre-conference bills, individuals can receive no more than $50,000 in subsidies and $75,000 in loan deficiency payments on marketing loans. For a couple, that adds up to a $250,000 cap." This level of government support is greatly under the AGI limits of $750K by the Senate and $950 by the house. The subsidy for 1,000 acres of corn using highest level of the new ARP would use almost all the limit. Granted not many will make that selection but one may need to review subsidy level prior to setting up crop insurance program if this provision becomes part of the farm bill. Freeport, IL
W Kuster
1/27/2014 | 1:31 PM CST
In 2012 the reported federal subsidy for federal crop insurance was $117 billion. Numerous sources estimated farmer indemnities in 2012 at 16 billion. See http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/012414-687583-argentina-and-venezuela-are-chronicles-of-devaluations-foretold.htm
Bonnie Dukowitz
1/27/2014 | 12:58 PM CST
So you think snap benefits end up at the local farmers market, W. ? The mega stores get most. Take a tour and do some local grocery shopping. Don't read the EWG bull. The Walmart type conglomorates have done immeasurable damage to all small business, including farmers. Just making a comparrison, but when one is stuck on an uneducated agenda, intelligent thought and reason are not possible.
W Kuster
1/27/2014 | 10:24 AM CST
There are not any snap recipients receiving multimillion dollar subsidies and multimillion dollar investment/profit guarantees. JD, ADM, Pioneer, and many banks are harvesting millions if not billions from federal crop insurance though. So it is just not the large farmers receiving the big government benefits.
Bonnie Dukowitz
1/27/2014 | 9:07 AM CST
C'mon W., your reasoning could be campared to stating 75% of government benefits of SNAP is for the 5% of the largest food retailers.
W Kuster
1/27/2014 | 7:47 AM CST
75% of the government benefits to 5% of the largest farmers is annihilating rural America. See http://www.ncifap.org/_images/Big_Farms_USDA_report.pdf And you think government programs are limiting the corporate takeover of rural America?
JOHNNY LAYTON
1/26/2014 | 9:29 PM CST
Sorry Mr/Ms Kuster, you'll just have to forgive our legislators for attempting to maintain the cheapest and most abundant food supply in the world while trying to assure that the producers of said food are able to withstand the uncertainty of not only the atmospheric environment but also the ever changing political environment . Are the results of this process perfect? Far from it, but these investments in rural America are what's keeping the agricultural wheel rolling, small towns and schools viable and coraporate farms from taking over all of agriculture. If small farms are not profitable , who knows CHINA may buy not just the raw product but may just come on over and own our land and export all our food. Sleep good tonight with your belly full!
W Kuster
1/25/2014 | 4:03 PM CST
Monday will be a great day if the robbers from farm states who are masquerading as legislators do not show up to vote. We would probably be better off with bank robbers for legislators. These people are satisfied to only steal a few thousands from banks. These farm state legislators have an insatiably greedy appetite for thievery awarding their wealthiest pals with not only millions in annual crop insurance subsidies but also millions in investment/profit guarantees. It does not bother these birds to spend billions of other's people money, money that we do not have, or money we are borrowing from China.