House passes $290B farm bill by veto-proof majority
By Mary Clare Jalonick
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — By a strong, veto-proof majority, the House passed a $290 billion farm bill that increases both subsidies for farmers and food stamps for the poor, while sprinkling in pet projects that lawmakers can take home to voters this election year.
The 318-106 vote for the five-year bill gave supporters 28 more than they need to override a promised veto from President Bush, who has complained the measure is too expensive and generous to farmers now enjoying record earnings.
"A bloated, earmark-laden bill," said Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer after the vote.
About two-thirds of the bill would pay for nutrition programs such as food stamps and emergency food aid for the 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 Senate plans to vote on the bill today.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the measure "will drastically increase nutrition initiatives that will help 38 million American families put health food on their table."
She made it clear she would have preferred smaller farm subsidies, but deferred to some Democratic colleagues looking ahead to the fall campaign.
The bill also would:
Congressional negotiators tried for weeks to come closer to the White House on the amount of money paid to wealthy farmers — one of the chief sticking points with the administration.
The legislation would make small cuts to direct payments, which are distributed to some farmers no matter how much they grow.
The farm bill also would eliminate some federal payments to individuals with more than $750,000 in annual farm 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 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 Senate Agriculture Committee put the bill's final cost at $290 billion over five years, based on figures compiled this week by congressional budget experts. The bill had been estimated at around $300 billion.
