05-11-2002

AGRICULTURE: Farm Bill Headed to White House

The Senate on May 8 voted 64-35 to approve the farm bill conference
report, thus sending it to President Bush for his signature. The House
passed the six-year measure, which reverses portions of the
market-oriented 1996 Freedom to Farm law, by a 280-141 vote on May 2. Bush
will be under substantial pressure to sign the legislation quickly because
it covers the 2002 crop year and southern farmers have already started
planting. The Senate vote in favor of the bill was significantly higher
than predicted by either Senate Democrats who wrote the legislation or
farm groups that support it. Senate Republicans insisted on 12 hours of
debate, during which Sen. Richard G. Lugar, R-Ind., the ranking member of
the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, revealed that the
Congressional Budget Office had estimated that the bill is likely to cost
$82.8 billion in additional spending over 10 years, rather than the $73.5
billion in additional spending allowed under the fiscal 2002 budget
resolution. Lugar urged the Senate to reject the legislation because he
said it is too costly in a time of budget deficits and war. But almost
two-thirds of the Senate sided with Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom
Harkin, D-Iowa, who told reporters after the vote: "Today the Senate
said `yes' in turning the corner on the failed policy of the
past."


Jerry Hagstrom/CongressDaily

National Journal