At 11:00 a.m. today, the Senate Finance Committee announced a new tax title to the farm bill, complete with offsets. The timing is propitious, because the one-month extension of the farm bill expires today. But agreement with the House is still unlikely to come today. The tax expenditures in the new tax title, which come to a total of $2.406 billion, are as follows:

• Ethanol Package $1.226 billion
• Schedule F Loss Limitation $0.456 billion
• Optional Self-Employment Tax $0.124 billion
• Other Farm-Related Tax Reform $0.600 billion

And the offsets for $10 billion total spending in the bill are:

• Stock Basis Reporting $6 billion
• Customs User Fees $4 billion