Washington, D.C. -  Today, U.S. Rep. Timothy V. Johnson and his colleagues on the General Farm Commodities Subcommittee unanimously voted to extend the commodity title of the current Farm Bill to 2012 rather than succumb to attempts to siphon off funding from commodity programs that are critical to Central Illinois farmers.

     Rep. Johnson, a member of the Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management, also supported a sense of Congress amendment that states, “No monies used to fund programs under jurisdiction of this subcommittee…shall be transferred to fund programs authorized or reauthorized under any other title of the farm bill.”      “This was the first of what will be several attempts to cannibalize commodity programs - the heart of the farm bill that provide the security our farmers need to stay in business,” Rep. Johnson said. “This vote demonstrates that the Subcommittee and the agriculture community stand as one on this issue.”

     By a vote of 0-18, the subcommittee voted down a proposal that would begin to phase out current commodity programs in favor of farmer savings accounts.  This proposal would cut funding to the commodity title and shift it to other areas of the farm bill.  

      A substitute amendment offered to the commodity title by Subcommittee Chairman Bob Etheridge, D-N.C., would extend the current 2002 Farm Bill until the year 2012.

     “This does not mean we are going to necessarily extend the Farm Bill to 2012,” Rep. Johnson said. “It was simply a way of telling the full committee, and the full House, that we intend to protect our turf.”    

     Rep. Johnson is the only member of the Illinois delegation on the Agriculture Committee. 

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