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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Down on the Farm Bill
 A compromise reached on the farm bill, the House and Senate are expected to vote on final passage as early as today. The bill provides about $289 billion over five years in agriculture spending including nutrition programs and food stamps as well as reauthorization of crop subsidies, conservation programs and a special $3.8 billion trust fund for farmers who lose crops to flood, fire or drought, bumping up the baseline in the aggregate by about $10.3 billion.
The big question is whether the two houses will pass the bill with sufficient margins to overrule a presidential veto, which has been promised repeatedly.
Bush is down on the farm bill. In a statement yesterday, he said:
I am deeply disappointed in the conference report filed today as it falls far short of the proposal my Administration put forward. If this bill makes it to my desk, I will veto it...
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. I believe doing so at a time of record farm income is irresponsible and jeopardizes America's support for necessary farm programs.
Congress claims that this bill increases spending by $10 billion, but the real cost is nearly $20 billion when you include actual government spending that will occur if this bill becomes law. Instead of fully offsetting the increased spending, the bill resorts to a variety of gimmicks, such as pushing commodity payments outside the budget window.
Anti-Analysis: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Posted by Dana Chasin
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