Farm Bill, Wind Tax Credit on Lame-Duck Docket?

Now that the election is over, the lame-duck session of Congress has a very small window of opportunity to deal with a long to-do list.

Chuck Hassebrook, executive director of the Center for Rural Affairs, says everything from conservation programs to help for beginning farmers and rural development hangs in the balance if Congress can’t agree on a Farm Bill.

Hassebrook says just as important to Ohio and the Midwest is extending the wind Production Tax Credit.

If the farm bill is pushed into 2013, Hassebrook says greater cuts in its spending are possible.

The version passed by the Senate last spring would trim farm bill spending by 23.6 billion dollars over 10 years, and the bill passed by the House Agriculture Committee has a 35 billion dollar trim.