The Administration appreciates the great work of Chairman Peterson and Ranking Member Goodlatte in bringing us this far. The funding limits outlined by the House represent the real reform sought by the Administration. Mr. Peterson and Goodlatte rightfully took the President's concern seriously and the outline was developed in an effort to reach fiscal responsibility. While there is still hard negotiating ahead on a number of items, we are pleased with our progress on budget issues.

The Administration is working hard to identify roughly $6 billion over baseline to be used to fund this package in such a way as to meet Congress' pay-go rules. We will continue to work closely with the conference committee in order to identify such offsets. We are confident this can be done and we can move forward with a good farm bill.

With these reforms and with acceptable offsets for the $6 billion of additional spending, we believe this offer represents a package that is moving in a direction of a bill that the President would sign.

We urge the House and Senate to use this proposal as the framework for a conference agreement. Without action sometime soon, we risk not reaching a final agreement that would provide a long-term safety net for America's farmers and ranchers.