Political Stakes Rise in Tobacco Buyout Debate

Source from:  The Leaf-Chronicle By JIMMY SETTLE  05/24/2004

As supporters of a tobacco buyout in Washington, D.C., consider a tax bill as a way to give leaf growers some relief, party leaders from both sides are staking positions after statements from President Bush opposing tampering with the existing tobacco quota system may have muddied the political waters. Democratic leaders in Tennessee have used it as a rallying cry, arguing that Bush should change his tune on a buyout. "Tennesseans need to see Republican senators (Bill) Frist and (Lamar) Alexander, and Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn stand up to George W. Bush," Randy Button, chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party, told The Leaf-Chronicle. "I'm not sure whether he doesn't understand the issue and how it impacts our tobacco farmers, or whether he's just opposing tobacco farmers in the Southeast," Button said. Blackburn's camp countered this week that she is an original co-sponsor of the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Bill of 2004. The bill is intended to "amend and repeal specified agricultural acts to eliminate tobacco quota and price support programs," according to a released statement from Blackburn's office. Blackburn noted that almost the entire Tennessee Congressional delegation is represented on the bill. It currently has 42 co-sponsors. The bill seeks transitional payments (funded by appropriations made by this proposed act) to tobacco quota holders and active producers of quota tobacco; (2) geographic restrictions on tobacco expansion through penalties for tobacco grown outside traditional tobacco counties; and (3) county committee resolution of payment disputes. "From Montgomery County through Cheatham, Williamson and Hickman counties, there are tobacco farms that will receive much needed help in this bill," Blackburn said in the released statement. "I have joined (co-sponsors) on a bill ... to help address some of the problems facing our tobacco farmers. A depression-era quota system is unfairly working against tobacco farming communities and this bill can do something to change that," she said. "Tobacco farmers have suffered a 50 percent reduction in income between 1997 and 2001. "(The reform bill) creates a privately funded process that will allow the tobacco farming market transition into the 21st century. In 1980 growers received 23 percent of the total tobacco profits. Today that percent has fallen to 19 percent," she said. But Democrats say recent declines in tobacco production make the need for a buyout clear. In Montgomery County alone, production of the leaf fell by 400,000 pounds between 2000 and 2002. From 2001 to 2002, it's reported that the money generated from tobacco crops in Tennessee declined by $38 million, from $172 million to $134 million a year later. "President Bush said in an interview that he doesn't think the quota allotment system we have now needs to be changed. But this is a big issue in the South, and Tennessee tobacco farmers need some relief," Button said. "I just think that George Bush is wrong to stand in the way of Tennessee tobacco farmers' needs," he said. House Majority Leader Tom Delay said this week lawmakers were looking at possibly attaching a tobacco quota buyout to the corporate tax bill, which is expected to be considered by the House next month. A buyout would overhaul the federal tobacco program, which sets price and production controls on U.S. leaf. It also would pay tobacco farmers to give up their federal allotments dictating how much leaf they can sell. Delay, R-Texas, said the big question is how to pay for such an initiative. "It would be nice to have some sort of offset for the tobacco buyout bill, and I think people are working on that," he said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Jimmy Settle is business editor and can be reached at 245-0742, or at jimmysettle@theleafchronicle.com Enditem