The House yesterday easily passed a massive farm bill that will increase subsidies for farmers, food stamps and renewable energy development, despite White House objections that the five-year, $290 billion measure is too costly.
The House approved the bill by a vote of 318-106. The tally is 35 votes more than would be needed to override a promised veto by President Bush.
The bill was a compromise months in the making, hammered out by House and Senate negotiators after competing versions passed both chambers last year. It now goes to the Senate, where a vote could come as early as today.
The Senate passed its earlier version of the bill in December by a vote of 79-14 and is expected to approve the bill by a “veto-proof” margin of at least 67 votes.
“The farm bill is a first step in reforming America’s farm policies and a giant leap forward in helping Americans who are struggling with the high cost of groceries and gasoline,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat. “While I would have preferred additional commodity reforms, the bill does improve upon current law.”
The White House Office of Management and Budge Director Jim Nussle said yesterday that the bill offered few reforms and criticized Congress for increasing farm subsidies at time of record crop prices.
“Commodities are strong and farmers are finally making money in the marketplace,” said Mr. Nussle on C-SPAN. “What this bill does is increase the spending above current spending for agricultural programs by almost $20 billion at a time when there is record farm income.”
The administration also has complained that lawmakers inserted far too many pet projects for their districts in the bill.
During his presidency, Mr. Bush has vetoed nine bills — eight of them since Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007. Congress has succeeded in overriding only one of the vetoes: a bill authorizing $23 billion in new water projects, in November.
But with House members facing re-election this November, 100 Republicans — along with 218 Democrats — ignored the president’s wishes in exchange for bringing home spending projects important to their districts.
“Especially important to Florida is this legislation’s recognition of the importance of special crops, such as fruits and vegetables and plant nurseries, for which Florida ranks second in the nation in production,” said House Republican Conference Chairman Adam H. Putnam, whose rural Central Florida district is dependent on farm subsidies.
The initial House farm bill in July passed by a vote of 231-191 — far short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. But yesterday’s 87-vote pickup was due, in large part, to tax provisions that many Republicans opposed that were rewritten or dropped.
“This bill passed not because it was a Democratic bill but because this bill was worked out in a bipartisan fashion,” said Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte of Virginia, the ranking Republican on the House Agriculture Committee.
About two-thirds of the bill would pay for nutrition programs, such as food stamps and emergency food aid for the poor and needy. An additional $40 billion is for farm subsidies, while almost $30 billion would go to farmers to idle their land and to other environmental programs.
The measure would eliminate direct farm subsidies to individual farmers earning more than $750,000 annually in farm-related income or married farmers who make more than $1.5 million. Individuals who make more than $500,000 or couples who make more than $1 million jointly in non-farm income also would not be eligible for subsidies.
Under current law, there is no income limit for farmers, and married couples who make less than one-fourth of their income from farming will not receive subsidies if their joint income exceeds $5 million.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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