ieb 



GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



Mr. Pace. You do not ask for payments on those 10 commodities? 

 "' Secretary Brannan. I think you will observe in the statement 

 that we say that for the storable commodities, some of which are in 

 this group 1, the loan and purchase contract has proven to be the 

 ,best device so far, but that even in that case it might be advisable on 

 occasion to have the production payment available for use. 



Mr. Pace. Then you "take those 10 priority commodities which 

 you say represent 25 percent of the national production, and you take 

 75 percent of all the other agricultural commodities produced in the 

 Nation, and you put them in a separate class. You state that they 

 shall be supported only as and when funds are available. 



Secretary Brannan. Just about the language which is in the statute 

 how for the so-called nonbasics. 



Mr. Pace. Taking into account the available funds? 



Secretary Brannan. That is right. 



Mr. Pace. Which means they will be supported as and when funds 

 are available. 



Secretary Brannan. That is right. 



Mr. Pace. And only then? 



Secretary Brannan. That is right. 



Mr. Pace. And if the Congress should fail to appropriate for your 

 use adequate funds to make these production payments, then this 

 75 percent of all the agricultural production of the Nation would be 

 without support. 



Secretary Brannan. Wliich, of course, is the exact same situation 

 we are in today. 



Mr. Pace. Yes, sir. 



Mr. PoAGE. If Congress did not appropriate those funds, you could 

 not make the support payments. 



Secretary Brannan. That is exactly right. 



Mr. Pace. I cannot agree with my friend from Texas, because there 

 is a great distinction in the Congress authorizing a support price pro- 

 gram at a certain level and making it mandatory and the Congress 

 ,authorizing a support level in the authority of the Secretary, subject 

 to his discretion, when and if funds are available. Then the matter 

 lies in two discretions, so far as the producer is concerned: in the dis- 

 cretion of the Congress and the discretion of the Secretary. 



Secretary Brannan. May I say right now that I cede any discretion 

 that is involved there to the Congress. I am not asking for any 

 additional discretion whatsoever. 



Chairman Cooley. Mr. Simpson wishes to ask you a question, Mr. 

 Secretary. 



Mr. Simpson. A short question, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Secretary, if this program were in effect as pul^lic law and you 

 were administering it now, what would be the effect on the price of 

 farm commodities? Would they be up or down? 



Secretary Brannan. Our objective would be to maintain them at 

 least at the level indicated in column 1 on exhibit C. 



Mr, Simpson. Would the price of corn under your program, if in 

 effect, be up or down? 



■i Secretary Brannan. Let us look at corn in exhibit C. Corn is the 

 second item. Right now it would be 4 cents up over the present 

 parity as of this hour. -,__.<. 



Mr. Simpson. Thank you. 



