Even with the farm bill extension passed before the Easter break - Congress will have less than three weeks to enact a new bill when they return to Capitol Hill next week. Staff members have continued farm bill work during the break - and some members of the House and Senate have worked on proposed levels of funding. One such proposal - reportedly reached by North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad and House Ag Chair Collin Peterson - would fund permanent disaster at a higher level than the framework outlined last week - but would make a deeper cut in commodity programs than the bills approved by the House and Senate.

The framework released last week would have provided 2.2-billion for disaster - while the Senate version of the farm bill included a 5.1-billion dollar fund created by the Senate Finance Committee. Conrad said the lower level was insufficient - and Finance Chair Max Baucus called the deal “dead on arrival.”

But this latest package - not yet endorsed by Ranking Ag Members Bob Goodlatte or Saxby Chambliss - may not meet everyone’s needs either. While Iowa GOP Senator and farm bill conferee Chuck Grassley didn’t mention one specific proposal when speaking to farm broadcasters Wednesday - he did say proposals that cut programs further than either the House or Senate bills did give him “much heartburn.”