WASHINGTON (DTN) -- President Barack Obama's call to extend the farm disaster aid programs championed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., was the most noteworthy element in the agriculture package the White House released Monday as part of the president's jobs and deficit-reduction proposal, several lobbyists said, although Republican farm leaders on Capitol Hill disagreed.

The proposal was sent to the congressional super committee that is supposed to come up with a deficit reduction plan

"I am very impressed" by the inclusion of disaster aid, said one lobbyist who asked not to be identified. "Those two [Baucus, who is a member of the super committee, and Conrad] are very resolute. It underscores the importance of perseverance."

Baucus and Conrad insisted on the disaster aid programs in the 2008 farm bill, but could not find enough money to fund them for the five-year length of the bill, and so they will end on Sept. 30.

National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson said he was "pleased" to see the disaster aid provision in the bill, and added that he had just returned from a trip to Pennsylvania where farmers were talking about the importance of disaster aid after this year's hurricanes and flooding.

The proposal would also make a total of $33 billion in cuts in the direct payments, crop insurance administration and premium subsidies and conservation programs.

But the plan would extend the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program, or SURE, through 2016, which would cost about $8 billion over that time. SURE pays when there are whole farm losses, but requires that farmers buy crop insurance to collect up to a $100,000 payment. Yet, SURE has been criticized over the lag time between when a disaster happens and when a farmer could be paid.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack noted that the disaster programs are not funded for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 and said, "Those programs are extremely important in the countryside as witnessed by the number of disasters" this year.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Senate Ag ranking ranking member Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, questioned the inclusion of SURE as part of a joint statement.

"Meanwhile, SURE [the biggest disaster program] has not worked as intended for most crops, but the president proposes extending it," said the statement from Lucas and Roberts.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said in a statement early Tuesday that her committee should make the cuts and seemed to disagree with the administration's decision to cut conservation spending. "Agriculture will do its fair share in helping to reduce the deficit, but as I've always said, decisions on where those cuts come from should be made by the Agriculture Committee, where we constantly receive input from farmers and others in the agriculture community," Stabenow said. "Farmers across the country have made it very clear that maintaining crop insurance and responsible risk management tools are critical, especially as droughts, floods and devastating storms have battered farms across the country. We have also heard that conservation is a major priority, as producers across the nation rely on important programs to sustain the integrity of their farmland and operations. We can strengthen farmers' top priorities and help America's agriculture industry create jobs while providing real and credible reforms to reduce the deficit."

While the White House said cuts to the direct payments program and the crop insurance program would total $33 billion, it did not say how much it expects the disaster aid to cost, and gave Congress leeway in how to construct the program.

"To strengthen the safety net, the administration proposes to extend these programs, or similar types of disaster assistance that are of a similar cost, for the 2012 to 2016 crops," the White House document said.

Most of the disaster aid programs are entitlements, meaning that the cost can only be estimated. Previous estimates over a 10-year period have been as low as $6 billion to $9 billion, but the Congressional Budget Office estimated earlier this year that extending the programs for another 10 years would cost $15 billion to $18 billion, Reuters reported.

Johnson, like other lobbyists, said he was "surprised and a little disappointed" at the depth of the cuts to farm programs. Although Farmers Union has never favored direct payments, Johnson has noted that its members in southern states like the program. He said he found the crop insurance cuts "troubling."

Jerry Hagstrom can be reached at jerry.hagstrom@telventdtn.com

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