Stories

The sequel to "Dorgan-Grassley" was released Thursday.

Putting a hard cap on federal farm program payments has proven to be a difficult task, but proponents of the idea won a rare victory this week.
A provision to cap annual farm program payments at $250,000 per individual unexpectedly passed the Senate Budget Committee Thursday. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced the amendment in the budget [...]

Two Midwestern Senators are not happy with a lack of commodity payment reform in the 2007 Farm Bill, and announced Monday that they would lead a charge to change the bill when it reaches the full Senate floor.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., held a press conference Tuesday to explain the details [...]

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said Tuesday that the fate of the 2007 farm bill may rest in the hands of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Grassley, a Republican in the minority in the Senate, told reporters during a weekly conference call that Speaker Pelosi wants major reforms in the way that farm payments are structured, [...]

With Congress in the middle of debate on the 2007 Farm Bill, commodity payments and other subsidies are a hot topic among rural farm organizations and environmental groups.
Iowa received $14.8 billion in federal farm payments from 1995 to 2005, which clearly illustrates what's at stake.
Much of the argument over the farm program involves the fact [...]

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley sent a letter Tuesday to Iowa's other senator, Tom Harkin, urging him to include a provision in the 2007 farm bill that would put a cap on federal payments to farmers.
Harkin a Democrat, is chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, which is in the midst of writing the 2007 farm [...]