Sens. Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) plan to send a letter to the President urging him to "refrain from proposing harmful cuts" to ag when preparing the Administration's fiscal year '08 budget. The letter states, "Instead, we urge you to propose a robust, new investment in renewable fuels that will add to the budget savings already realized or forecast under current farm policy and make room for the Administration to propose additional funding in order to meet new priorities and policy objectives, including many identified by the Administration, without making harmful cuts to existing priorities." The administration will present its budget to Congress the first week of February.
-- P. Scott Shearer, Washington, D.C., correspondent