In The House

GOP restores farm funds

House Republicans restored all funds Thursday for a new program designed to wean farmers from traditional agriculture subsidies.

U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt said the decision to back away from a proposed 1 percent cut in next year’s market transition payments was a sign that Congress is committed to the seven-year program.

But the decision to make deeper cuts in a farm export program prompted one of Nethercutt’s election opponents, former National Association of Wheat Growers President Judy Olson, to complain Republicans were “cannibalizing” one program to fix the other.

In the Agriculture Appropriations Bill, which will be voted on by the full House next week, Republicans are proposing to cut the Export Enhancement Program from $250 million to about $120 million. The program helps subsidize U.S. grain sales overseas when American farmers are at a disadvantage with growers in other countries.

Nethercutt said the demand and price for wheat should be strong enough that EEP won’t be as necessary next year.

“Fixing that mistake (on market transition payments) by raiding the EEP is like throwing away your crescent wrench,” said Olson.

But will there be hearings?

WASHINGTON

Americans upset by the roar of jet planes overhead may be getting some help - or at least someone to complain to.

The office of Aircraft Noise Ombudsman was added to the Federal Aviation Administration in a bill approved by the House Transportation Committee on Thursday.

The office will “ensure that the American people have an advocate in the FAA bureaucracy who will represent the concerns of residents affected by airline flight patterns,” said Rep. Bob Franks, R-N.J., who proposed the amendment to create the office.

They’ll drink to that

WASHINGTON

House lawmakers, bowing to election-year pressure to embrace environmental issues, approved on Thursday a bi-partisan bill that would strengthen the nation’s drinking water protection laws.

The compromise, reached after months of mostly partisan haggling, won unanimous support from the House Commerce Committee’s environmental panel.

The House version would make major changes to current law. Among other things, it focuses on the most serious water contaminants, gives loans to water utilities to upgrade facilities, calls for protection of source water - such as lakes, rivers and reservoirs - and requires utilities to provide more information for consumers.

“It’s good for everyone who drinks water,” said Mike Collins, spokesman for Rep. Thomas Bliley, R-Va., chairman of the House Commerce Committee.

, DataTimes