Agriculture secretary defends implementation of farm law

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman told the Senate Agriculture Committee Tuesday that she is "pleased and proud of the progress the department is making so far in implementing" the bipartisan farm bill.

But Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., accused her of dragging her feet on certain provisions or all but deliberately ignoring or changing certain mandates in the bill, implying it was done in order to save money or toughen regulations on some payments to farmers.

"Did officials in the White House direct you to limit payments to dairy farmers?" asked Leahy, who is from a key milk-producing section of the nation. "We wrote a farmer-friendly program," he said, but the department has failed to put milk provisions into effect quickly enough and farmers have suffered.

"We need to get these payments out," added Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn.

Conrad told Veneman, "In item after item you and your department are defying Congress." He cited a provision in which conferees had explicitly directed that payments for certain oil seed crops should be 9.6 cents a pound but the department had set the figure at 9.15 cents.

"Why are you not following the clear intent of Congress?" he asked, noting that one farmer in his state had lost $30,000 as a result. "You've substituted your judgment" for "the clear intent of Congress," he said.

Veneman denied the charges. She and top aides said certain provisions of the bill were unclear or contradicted each other so the department had to reconcile them.

"There have been differences among lawyers on what some of the language means," she said. A department official accompanying Veneman said sections of the bill gave her the authority to adjust the crop payment.