Published: May 22, 2008 01:10 am            

Bush nixes farm bill, Congress counters ... or do they?

Staff and wire reports



WASHINGTON — The U.S. House voted Wednesday to override President Bush’s veto of the $290 billion farm bill.

Or did it? And, did the president really veto the legislation?

Just after the House voted 316-108 to go against the president’s wishes, it was discovered the bill the president vetoed earlier in the day was not complete, said U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla.

The problem stems from legislation sent to the White House by the House enrolling clerk, Lucas said. The clerk left out one section — 34 pages dealing with trade and international food aid — of the 1,500-page, 12-section bill.

That meant the president vetoed a different bill than what Congress passed.

There is a debate now among members of the House leadership on what to do, Lucas said.

“Procedurally, this it not over yet,” he said. “We don’t know where we are now.”

Democrats hope to pass the entire bill, again, today under expedited rules usually reserved for unopposed legislation. Lawmakers probably also will have to pass an extension of current farm law, which expires Friday.

“We will have to repass the whole thing, as will the Senate,” said Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y. “We can’t let the farm bill just die.”

Republican leaders called for a farm bill do-over. The White House seized on the fumble and said the mix-up could give Congress time to fix the “bloated” bill.

“We are trying to understand the ramifications of this congressional farm bill foul-up. We haven’t found a precedent for a congressional blunder of this magnitude,” said Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman. “It looks like it may be back to square one for them.”

“In all likelihood, you have to redo this process,” said Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 2 Republican and one of the 100 GOP lawmakers who broke with Bush in voting to override the veto. “I’d like to see a farm bill passed that no judge can say is not the farm bill.”

The Senate had planned to vote Thursday, with enough votes expected to overturn the veto.

Lucas voted to override the president’s veto, a hard choice for him, he said.

“I think a great deal personally of the president,” he said.

However, Lucas said he had to do what was best for his constituents in his largely rural 3rd Congressional District, despite his opposition to parts of the bill.

“This is the best bill at the present time we are going to achieve,” he said.

Lucas has been critical of the process involved in working out a farm bill and especially of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s actions.

She did not provide enough money for the farm bill, he said, then insisted on adding $10 billion to the legislation for food stamps through the next 10 years.

Bush has said the bill is too expensive and gives too much money to wealthy farmers when farm incomes are high.

About two-thirds of the bill would pay for nutrition programs such as food stamps, about $40 billion is for farm subsidies and additional $30 billion would go to conservation programs.

Bush said the legislation needlessly would expand government. He cited one new program in the bill that would pay more to corn growers and others if agriculture revenue were to drop significantly in the next five years. This program, he said, could add billions to the cost of the bill.

He added minor cutbacks to subsidies for wealthy farmers were not sufficient.

“At a time when net farm income is projected to increase by more than $28 billion in one year, the American taxpayer should not be forced to subsidize that group of farmers who have adjusted gross incomes of up to $1.5 million,” the president said in his veto.

Congressional negotiators tried to make some last-minute changes in the bill to come closer to the White House on that issue.

The bill would make small cuts to direct payments, which are distributed to some farmers no matter how much they grow. It also would eliminate some payments to individuals with more than $750,000 in annual farm income — or married farmers who make more than $1.5 million. Previously, negotiators were considering a $950,000 income cap for individuals on farm income.

Individuals who make more than $500,000 or couples who make more than $1 million jointly in nonfarm 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.

The administration originally proposed a cap for those who make more than $200,000 in annual gross income but later indicated it could accept a limit of $500,000.



Associate Editor Kevin Hassler and The Associated Press contributed to this story.