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e-News
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Congress passes $290B Farm Bill |
05.16.2008
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WASHINGTON--A day after the House passed the Farm Bill with a veto-proof majority of 318-106, the Senate passed the bill May 15 by an 81-15 margin.
Calling the measure irresponsible at a time of record farm income, President Bush has said he will veto the bill. "Farm income is expected to exceed the 10-year average by fifty percent this year, yet Congress' bill asks American taxpayers to subsidize the incomes of married farmers who earn $1.5 million per year," said President Bush in a May 13 statement.
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More than 100 Republicans worked across the aisles to pass the Farm Bill in the House by a 318 -106 margin, well above the two-thirds majority needed to override the president's promised veto. The veto and override votes are expected next week, according to reports.
About $40 billion of the bill, which defines the nation's food policy for the next five years, is for farm subsidies, and two-thirds are earmarked for nutrition programs such as the food stamp program.
The bill includes:
*$170 million for salmon fishermen
*$126 million write off for Kentucky thoroughbred racehorse owners
* $100 million for organic farming research
*$440 million for cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay
* Mandatory country-of-origin labeling by Sept. 30 for beef, lamb, pork, chicken and goat meat, along with fruits and vegetables, peanuts and macadamia nuts and
* $10 million annually into research on pollinators and Colony Collapse Disorder, the malady of unknown cause that has killed billions of U.S. honeybees since 2006, reported Bloomberg.
Interest groups too are weighing in:
The Farm Bill gets the seal of approval from Second Harvest, the nation's food bank with offices in Chicago, for its $250 million a year in funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program and improvements in the Food Stamp Program. About two-thirds of the farm bill is for nutrition programs.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association, an association of food manufacturers based here, disapproves of the bill. The group of food and beverage companies said the measure not only increases subsidies for some farmers but also "includes subsidies and protections for sugar producers that will increase the cost of food at a time of record food inflation," said GMA CEO Cal Dooley in a statement.
The conservation group National Wildlife Federation, which had supported the bill because it increased conservation funding, urged its defeat after seeing changes to grassland and wetland protections that were made behind closed doors, reported the Chronicle.
http://www.gourmetnews.com/index.php?p=article&id=gn200805KjNCxg <http://www.gourmetnews.com/index.php?p=article&id=gn200805KjNCxg>
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