Posted on 05/15/2008 7:57:26 PM PDT by Red Steel
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday approved a five-year, $307 billion farm bill with wide bipartisan support, virtually sealing President Bush’s defeat in a battle over agriculture policy.
Mr. Bush has promised to veto the bill because he says it would not do enough to limit subsidies at a time of record grain prices. His advisers said Thursday that he had every intention of making good on that vow.
The Senate vote, 81 to 15, with 35 Republicans in favor, guarantees an easy override of a veto. The House passed the bill on Wednesday, 318 to 106, also far more than the two-thirds needed to overturn a veto.
Although the measure is universally known as the farm bill, it has far more money to feed the poor, including $209 billion for nutrition programs like food stamps and food banks, according to the Congressional Budget Office, compared with $35 billion for agricultural commodity programs.
“This is a great day for America, not just for farmers and ranchers,” said Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa and chairman of the Agriculture Committee, who noted that the bill included money for healthy snacks for schoolchildren, for land conservation and rural development and for producing alternative fuel like ethanol made from switchgrass and other plant matter.
“This is really a farm bill for everyone,” Mr. Harkin said. “I am still hopeful the president will sign it.”
The White House said that there was no reason for lawmakers to be hopeful and that Mr. Bush would veto the bill when he returned from a Middle East trip.
“We will continue to make the case with lawmakers why it is bad for Americans,” said Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman.
Mr. Bush’s objections include the which
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
>>money for healthy snacks for schoolchildren<<
I provide my own healthy snacks for my kids and pay for free breakfasts and lunches for poor kids.
Let their parent’s do it.
What right does one group of American citizens have to demand the wages of other citizens? They can call it farm subsidies, I call it stealing.
But I need your money, upsdriver! Have a heart!
Seriously, the farm bill is really no different than any other wealth redistribution scheme. I don’t see it as any more legitimate than handing out welfare checks to single moms. However, I note it has considerable support on both sides of the aisle. Perhaps you know of some obscure reference in the US Constitution that states government can spend money to help private citizens and/or private interests? Personally, I’m at a loss to find one. All we have managed to do is create a federal government where different interests squabble over who can get the biggest piece of the pie. Currently, it appears ADM has managed to carve out a big chunk for itself. What a sorry state!
Bush should veto this bill on principle, it’s an election year, he’s got nothing to lose.
Alot to gain however, like maybe some Conservative Respect?
Nahh...
too much to ask!
We got to stick with the McCrazy war Hero!
It is stealing, but when done by the ruling class they are rewarded with re-election.
Buying votes with stolen money.
I grew up on a farm, even farmed a couple of years. I love for the farmers to succeed, as long as it is done without taxpayer dollars. Many farmers in this area, not all, have an entitlement mindset. They think they deserve to be subsidized by the government much the same as welfare recipients. I do know farmers who are Republican who refuse to participate in the farm bill and others who do but are really not comfortable with it. But farmers who vote Democrat, forget it, THEY ARE ENTITLED! They also hate, and I mean HATE! Pres. Bush. I hope Bush vetoes the bill, even if it is going to be overridden.
Does anyone know if this the AG Bill that Numbers USA was trying to stop because it includes AMNESTY fot illegal aliens?
Yep, In my state, stealing and buying votes are what Sens. Dorgan and Conrad do best.
“ADM has managed to carve out a big chunk for itself.”
I guess this is the Republicrat version of corporate tax cuts.
Yupper! We need those healthy snacks FOR THE CHILDREN!! Their uneducated parents probably feed them Ho-Ho's (Democrat thoughts.......)
Clearly this is what the founding fathers intended.
/s
At a time when grain products are getting record prices, the government is going to increase the subsidies. That makes absolutely zero sense.
Of course, this is directly supported by our “wonderful” Blanch (Blank) Lincoln of Arkansas. Of course, she doesn’t have a conflict of interest does she...nahhh.... Except for that mega-farm she owns which will directly benefit from this subsidy increase. Kind of seems wrong, doesn’t it? She can vote for a program that she will directly benefit from. At a time when her farm will produce some of the highest payouts it has in many years even before farm payments from the government.
Your Senators give money to farmers, my Senators give favors to illegals.
What’s really sick is this bill has a part of it which very much affects my husband’s company - Weyerhaeuser - they grow TREES....
The Tree Assistance Program provides compensation for specialty crop farmers to replant trees and vines that have been destroyed by natural disasters such as hurricanes,
freezing rain, or severe temperatures.
Yeah, Sen. Kent Conrad is chairman of the budget committee. Everyone applauds him for being a deficit hawk. He can find the funds for a 300 billion dollar farm bill but we can’t afford tax cuts. He has voted against every single tax cut bill introduced. Unless it was a cut going to someone who doesn’t pay taxes in the first place. Yet, more stealing.
We could solve both problems by putting a bounty on illegals and letting the farmers round them up for some extra cash.:)
Pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, pork, and more pork.
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