Congress has a number of issues yet to finalize before the end of the year. Two that agriculture will be closely watching are tax extenders and appropriations. Congress is expected to renew a package of tax extenders that are important to agriculture including Section 179, biodiesel tax credit, and research and development.
The issue will be are they extended for 2015 or for two years. The other issue is the proposed $3 billion cut in crop insurance that was a part of the budget agreement recently passed by Congress.
After strong opposition from the House and Senate agriculture committee leaders and members and the agriculture community that threatened the agreement, the House and Senate leadership say the savings would be found elsewhere and would be dealt with during consideration of the fiscal year ’16 appropriations. How this will be done is still an open question at this time.
