Agriculture News As It Happens hagstromreport Saturday, January 25, 2014 | Alert Farm bill conferees urged to have proxy form on file *** Farm bill conferees urged to have proxy form on file The chief counsel of the House Agriculture Committee sent House farm bill conferees a memo late today urging them to have a proxy form on file for voting on the farm bill conference report in case they are unable to return to Washington for a conference meeting, The Hagstrom Report has learned. No meeting has been scheduled, but if the conference report is to be considered on the House floor on Wednesday, as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., has proposed, it would be necessary to either hold a conference meeting on Monday or gather the required signatures of conferees to approve the bill. Kevin Kramp, chief counsel to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., noted in a memo to both Republican and Democratic House conferees, “At the meeting of the conferees on October 30, 2013 on H.R. 2642, a motion was adopted for the use of proxy voting by House conferees.” The memo said Lucas, who chairs the conference, “strongly encourages you to have a proxy form on file” with the committee clerks “so that the conference committee can function in your absence if a conference meeting is scheduled.” “Please note that the proxy will only be used if you are absent and according to your instructions,” the memo said. A key dairy lobbyist told The Hagstrom Report today that no conference committee vote is anticipated on the dairy title. A cattle industry lobbyist said that conferees and staff were still debating this weekend the issue of whether to make changes to the country-of-origin labeling program for red meat. Several lobbyists said they anticipated that the 41 conferees would receive draft copies of the conference report on Sunday in anticipation of a meeting Monday or meetings of conferees by chamber and by party so that the bill could be presented and signatures requested. Under House and Senate rules, a majority of conferees of each chamber must sign the conference report for it to be approved and to go to a vote in each chamber. In the Senate all the conferees are members of the Senate Agriculture Committee and have full powers over the entire bill. In the House, some conferees who are not members of the House Agriculture Committee have been appointed only to consider the domestic nutrition, food aid and trade sections of the bill, and their role is limited to those sections. Before voting, the House is expected to ask whether the report is signed by a majority of all the conferees from each house who were appointed to consider each of the matters that were submitted to the conference committee. Conference reports are also supposed to be published and available to members and the general public for 48 hours before a vote. If the report is not available, a point of order can be raised against its consideration. Following are the names of the House and Senate conferees. House Conferees Republicans House Committee on Agriculture conferees: House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., chairman of the conference Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala. Rep. Michael Conaway, R-Texas Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga. Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark. Rep. Martha Roby, R-Ala. Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D. Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Calif. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill. Leadership conferee: Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Fla. House Foreign Affairs Committee conferees: Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa. House Ways & Means Committee conferees: Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., chairman Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas Democrats House Committee on Agriculture conferees: House Agriculture Committee ranking member Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn. Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C. Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif. Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn. Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash. Rep. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Calif. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Texas Leadership conferee: Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio House Foreign Affairs Committee conferee: Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., ranking member House Ways & Means Committee conferee: Rep. Sandy Levin, D-Mich., ranking member Senate conferees Democrats Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo. Republicans Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Thad Cochran, R-Miss. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark. Sen John Hoeven, R-N.D. © 2011 - 2014 The Hagstrom Report, LLC | PO Box 58183 | Washington, DC 20037-9997
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 04:33:54 +0000
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