Lawmakers aim for April 18 farm bill

If I had a dollar for every farm bill deadline that's been missed over the last 15 months, I'd be raking in plenty of dough. It seemed like almost every Monday, lawmakers would report that progress was being made and that something new would happen before the weekend, which turned out to be the following week and often times, a decision would be prolonged into the next month.

It's not that many people weren't trying. After lawmakers actually started getting down to details last year, the House finally approved their version of a new farm bill in July and the Senate followed suit in December. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-MN, spent most of his winter break trying to flesh out scenarios for bringing the House and Senate versions together for a conference committee.

And it's not that the policy differences are that much different than what you currently have in the 2002 farm bill. Sure, there are some new programs and some different twists.

The big stumbling block continues to be the money, or lack thereof. Both the House and Senate want to spend more than they are allotted under Congressional Budget rules. And several lawmakers, in lock step with the Bush administration, don't want those additional dollars to come from any type of tax increase.