http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,357081,00.html
Democrats Plan Farm Bill Redo After Embarrassing Snafu
Thursday, May 22, 2008
WA****NGTON — Democrats are picking up the pieces after an
embarrassing technical gaffe that delayed a triumphant rejection of
President Bush's veto of a massive farm bill.
Members from both parties hoped to bring the $290 billion bill, which
includes election-year subsidies for farmers and food stamps for the
poor, back to their districts over Memorial Day. But that is looking
less likely now that the legislation will have to be passed all over
again due to a printing error.
The House voted overwhelmingly, 316-108, on Wednesday to override
Bush's veto of the legislation earlier in the day.
The Senate then was expected to follow suit quickly, but action
stalled after the discovery that a 34-page section of the bill had
been omitted from the printed bill sent to the White House. That means
Bush vetoed a different bill from the one Congress passed, raising
questions that the eventual law would be unconstitutional.
In order to avoid a partisan dustup, House Democrats hoped to pass the
entire bill, again, on Thursday under expedited rules usually reserved
for noncontroversial legislation, and the Senate was expected to
follow suit. The correct version would then be sent to Bush under a
new bill number for another expected veto.
Lawmakers also will have to pass an extension of current farm law,
which expires Friday.
Bush says the legislation is too expensive and would send too much
government money to wealthy farmers. A bipartisan group of negotiators
on the bill made small cuts to subsidies to appease the White House,
but Bush said it wasn't enough.
The veto was the 10th of Bush's presidency, but Congress had
overridden him only once before, on a water projects bill.
Congressional Republicans overwhelmingly abandoned Bush in voting to
override the legislation Wednesday, overlooking its cost amid public
concern about the weak economy and high gas and grocery prices. GOP
lawmakers are anxious about their own prospects less than six months
before Election Day.
About two-thirds of the bill would pay for nutrition programs such as
food stamps, about $40 billion is for farm subsidies and additional
$30 billion would go to farmers to idle their land and to other
environmental programs.
The farm bill also would:
—Boost nutrition programs by more than $10 billion over 10 years and
expand a program to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to
schoolchildren.
—Cut a per-gallon ethanol tax credit for refiners from 51 cents to 45
cents. The credit sup****ts the blending of fuel with the corn-based
additive. More money would go to cellulosic ethanol, made from plant
matter.
—Require that meats and other fresh foods carry labels with their
country of origin.
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