Did the US Senate override the Farm Bill? 34 pages missing from bill in key vote

In Washington, the US Senate voted 82-13 to override a veto by President George W. Bush, which enacted the Bill into law.

Questions emerged over what exactly was voted on after it was discovered that the original bill passed by the US House, due to a clerical error, was sent to the White House with a section missing on trade policy. A minority of House members said that the legislation would have to be re-approved, re-sent to the White House, re-vetoed, and then the US House and Senate would have to revote to override.

House and Senate leaders said, however, that the 14 of the 15 titles in the bill did not have to be reconsidered. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accepted responsibility for the oversight by House staff.

In Washington, the US House of Representatives voted to override President Bush’s veto of the Farm Bill. The vote was 316-108, with half of House Republicans voting to override. The $289 billion bill includes more than $200 billion for food stamps and nutrition programs over the next five years, an increase of $10 billion to recognize the higher cost of food. The Senate is expected to vote today, and is also expected to override. If the Senate votes to override the veto, the bill will become law on Senate passage.

The bill contains a historic two-tiered ethanol incentive, with corn ethanol subsidies dropping to $0.45 per gallon and a new $1.01 subsidy introduced for cellulosic fuels. A last minute amendment had changed the language of the higher subsidy from “cellulosic ethanol” to “cellulosic fuels”, which otherwise would have exempted companies such as LS9 and Gevo.

The Farm Bill had not been vetoed since 1956, and originally observers did not think that an election-year veto was possible, since the top ten states in farm subsidies control half the electoral votes
for the presidential campaign. The White House budget director said that the bill “doesn’t have hardly enough reform.”

A controversial feature has been the cap on farmer income in order to receive subsidy payments. The new bill forbids subsidies to farmers with more than $750,000 in income, or $1.5 million for a married couple.

EWG has published a list of the leading subsidy recipients, who received as much as $900,000 in subsidy payments in 2006.

In Iowa, Senator John McCain said that, as drafted. he would veto the Farm Bill because of excessive subsidies,
which he called unnecessary. McCain added, “I do not believe we should have tariffs against imported products, but I want to promise you as president of the United States of America I will recognize one fundamental fact, and that is the farmer in the state of Iowa and the United States of America is the most productive, the most efficient and the best, and I will open every market in the world to your products
and I will sell them.”

The Farm Bill bill contains a reduced 45 cents per gallon ethanol subsidy and a $1.01 per gallon subsidy for cellulosic ethanol. Tax credits for biodiesel were removed from the bill, and the tariff on Brazilian ethanol is extended through 2010.

The bill contains $900 million for biofuels development, $900 million for nutrition programs aimed to offset higher food prices, while land stewardship programs would received an additional $4 billion, and specialized crops $1.35 billion.

Negotiations over the stalled Farm Bill had put existing ethanol incentives in peril last month, according to House Agriculture Committee chairman Collin Peterson. The chairman said that, in order to offset $9.5 billion in increased spending, Senate negotiators had proposed a $0.05 per gallon cut in the ethanol blender tax credit and reductions in other incentives for a total of $1.226 billion in ethanol support cuts.

Earlier this month, the US House of Representatives had voted to extend the existing Farm Bill until April 25
to give lawmakers more time to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the new Farm Bill, which includes tax breaks and incentives for biofuels. President Bush has stated that he will not
sign legislation extending the current Farm Bill for another year.

The Farm Bill was passed by the Senate in the fall, while the House version passed in July. Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Tom Harkin said the bill would earmark $1.3 billion for biofuels over the next five years.

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