BACKGROUND: Every five years Congress approves a major package of agricultural programs referred to as the "Farm Bill". This year's bill would be one of the many pieces of major legislation lumped together as part of a massive "reconcilition bill". Both the House and Senate would cap farm subsidies and increase the amount of farmland ineligible for subsidy. Both bills would also end the government's practice of paying farmers to leave certain lands unplanted, and would allow them more planting flexibility. The Senate bill would save nearly $50 billion in farm and nutrition programs (including food stamps) over the seven years in which Congress hopes to balance the federal budget. Some Republicans hope this bill can be the first step toward the eventual elimination of farm subsidies.

STATUS: The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee approved the bill on Sept. 28, 9-8. The House's Freedom to Farm bill, HR 2195, stalled in the House Agriculture Committee, and will be taken up by the House Budget Committee.

KEY PLAYERS: Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), is chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee and a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination. Rep. Pat Roberts (R-KS), chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, is the sponsor of the House bill. Reps. Bill Emerson (R-MO) and Larry Combest (D-TX) are outspoken dissidents on the House Agriculture Committee. Conservative freshman Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) nearly prevented the bill from passing the Senate Agriculture Committee before changing his "nay" vote to "present."

PRO: Nothing, not even time-honored and once-untouchable federal farm subsidy programs, can be spared from today's budget-cutting axe. These proposals satisfy both those who want to cut the spending and size of the government. Many of the bill's reforms, like ending the encouragement of "idled" farm land, will have benefits such as restoring America's dwindling grain trade. Why cut welfare but not farm subsidies?

"Why should taxpayers subsidize farmers when they do not subsidize other small businesses that have failure rates often approaching 50 percent?" -- Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-IN)

CON: Once again Republicans want to walk over the poor on their way to a balanced budget. Rural America will suffer an unfairly hard hit from the obsessive government-cutting of the GOP Congress. But serious opposition to the bill has emerged from within the Republican party itself, largely from members who want a tougher bill that doesn't spare pet subsidies like those for sugar.

"We want to have equitable reform across the board, and peanuts and sugar are taking a walk that's not acceptable." -- Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)

WHAT'S NEXT: The farm bill will be considered as part of reconciliation bill, which goes to the Senate Budget Committee and then is likely be voted on by the full Senate in mid-October. House leadership and the House Budget Committee will determine in what form the bill will become part of that chamber's reconciliation package.

INSIDE SCOOP: Farm subsidies are cherised by the mostly midwestern states that recieve them, and their defenders are prepared to fight to the last. This sets up a sharp clash -- particularly in the House -- with the rabid budget-cutters who also wield major influence in Congress. Many observers see the farm bill as a key test of the sincerity of Republican budget-cutters; many powerful figures, like Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas, come from highly subsidized states. Meanwhile, House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia was publicly embarassed in late September after a memo detailing his plans for political retribution against opponents of the House bill was accidentally e-mailed to a Democratic staffer.