From The New West Blog: Ag, Nutrition, Economy

Congress Passes Veto-Proof Farm Bill

By Courtney Lowery, 5-15-08

Congress passed today the almost $300 billion, much-awaited, much-politicized Farm Bill and it did so with enough votes to override the President’s promised veto.

The Senate Thursday voted for the bill 81-15 and yesterday, the House voted 318 to 106 for the legislation, which Bush says gives too much to wealthy farmers.

As Mary Clare Jalonick points out for the Associated Press today, the election has given the bill its very own spotlight and largely bi-partisan support. 

Katherine Rizzo has an interesting has a piece on the Wall Street Journal site making the case that the bill is a testament to the power of rural voters—essentially saying that Democrats are playing up to a largely Republican base of farmers, who she calls: “salt-of-the-earth, early rising, hard-working, churchgoing, family-hugging, meat-and-potatoes, dinner-at-five types.” (Yeesh.)

And while most of the bill’s hubbub continues to be about farmers and direct payments (the bill does reform direct payments based on adjusted gross income and increases subsidy rates slightly) this week’s news has also highlighted the biggest part of the bill, which is actually the nutrition section. (It accounts for 66 percent of the the bill, while subsidies account for 14 percent and conservation for 9 percent, according to this very handy fact sheet from the AP.)

Reuters has the best breakdown of the bill here -- which nicely details the changes in the legislation from the last farm bill and spells out just what’s being cut and what’s being expanded.

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