May 14, 2008 12:45 pm US/Pacific
House Passes $290B Election-Year Farm Bill
WASHINGTON (AP) ―
The House passed a $290 billion farm bill Wednesday with a strong veto-proof majority, offering more subsidies for farmers, food stamps for the poor and special projects that lawmakers can bring home to voters this election year.
The 318-106 vote for the five-year bill came despite President Bush's promised veto. He says the measure is too expensive and gives too much money to wealthy farmers.
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.
Senators planned to begin debating the bill later Wednesday. A rejection of a Bush veto may be even easier in the Senate, where farm states have greater representation than they do in the House. Congress has only overridden one veto, on a water projects bill, during Bush's two terms.
This measure is not perfect, said the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, who believes it is balanced. "We've put a bill together that I think addresses what people are concerned about in this country," said Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn.
Republicans, however, criticized the mostly bipartisan and popular bill because home-state projects added in an election year. The bill includes tax breaks for Kentucky racehorse owners, extra help for farmers in Hawaii and Alaska, and dollars for salmon fishermen in the Pacific Northwest.
"This bill has been under consideration for a long, long time, and yet still we have earmarks that have been 'air dropped' into the legislation," said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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