Farm Bill Passes Easily in House
Posted on: Thursday, 15 May 2008, 15:00 CDT
By DIANA MARRERO
Washington -- The House passed a $290 billion farm bill Wednesday by a 318-106 vote, enough to override a likely veto from President Bush.
Democratic Reps. Gwen Moore of Milwaukee and Ron Kind of La Crosse joined their three Republican colleagues in Wisconsin's delegation to vote against the bill. Wisconsin's three other Democratic House members voted for it.
Bush has threatened to veto the bill, saying it is too costly and does little to reduce government subsidies to wealthy farmers.
Roughly two-thirds of the funding in the bill would go to nutrition programs such as food stamps. About $30 billion would go to land conservation and environmental programs, and $40 billion would go to farm subsidies -- a point of contention for critics who say farmers should not continue receiving government payments when they are making record profits as crop prices soar.
Kind, who has been leading the effort to drastically reduce subsidies paid to farmers of corn, wheat and other commodity crops, said he was disappointed that more lawmakers didn't "stand up . . . and demand real reform."
"I expect it will be very difficult for the members who voted yes to justify these outrageous payments to their constituents who are right now struggling with the highest food and fuel costs ever," he said in a statement.
But Rep. Steve Kagen, an Appleton Democrat and member of the House Agriculture Committee, hailed the bill as good for Wisconsin's economy.
"It's great for Wisconsin agriculture," he said.
Dairy farmers
The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation applauded the bill's passage Wednesday, saying it would help Wisconsin's farmers.
The legislation includes provisions that would ensure federal payments for dairy farmers when feed prices go above a certain level. It also would raise payment levels for farmers and increase the size of dairy farms eligible for payments. The measure also boosts funding for conservation efforts and creates new programs for fruit and vegetable growers.
Agriculture is a $28.6 billion industry in Wisconsin. Most of the state's 76,500 farms are family farms, with an average size of about 200 acres, according to the farm federation.
Under current farm law, commodity-crop growers with an annual adjusted gross income of as much as $2.5 million can qualify for government subsidies. The bulk of these so-called direct payments go to growers of wheat, corn, rice, cotton, sugar and soybeans.
The legislation being considered would eliminate some of those subsidies for individual farmers who make more than $750,000 in farm income. Married farmers would not qualify if they make more than $1.5 million.
In Wisconsin, about 48% of farmers collect some form of subsidy payment. Although many of the subsidies don't kick in when prices are high, direct payments continue to go to farmers even when they are making record profits. The government spends about $5.2 billion a year on direct payments nationwide.
Pet projects
Only 91 Republicans voted against the bill. But some, such as Reps. Paul Ryan of Janesville and Jim Sensenbrenner of Menomonee Falls, criticized the legislation because of the number of pet projects tucked into the measure, including tax breaks for Kentucky racehorse owners, aid for salmon fishermen in the Pacific Northwest and more help for farmers in Hawaii and Alaska.
"The bill is loaded with pork projects, including $170 million secretly air-dropped by the speaker for the salmon industry," Sensenbrenner said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, Ryan lamented that lawmakers had done little to change the nation's farm policy through the bill.
"This farm bill will hurt the family farmer at the end of the day," he said. "It is hurting the Third World. That is not what we as Americans ought to be for."
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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