WASHINGTON (AP) - Married couples with joint incomes of up to $1.5 million
from their farm operation could still qualify for crop subsidies under a
five-year, $300 billion farm bill compromise that would boost the Agriculture
Department's food and farm programs.
In some cases, farm couples with incomes totaling $2.5 million -- assuming
$1 million is from other, non-farm sources -- could also qualify. That's far too
rich for the Bush administration, which renewed President Bush's threat to veto
the package as being too generous to wealthy farmers.
As details of the House-Senate compromise emerged Thursday, Agriculture
Secretary Ed Schafer reiterated the veto threat. White House budget director Jim
Nussle said the legislation still spends too much, relies on budget gimmicks and
"doesn't have hardly enough reform."
"For those reasons, it would still be something that the administration
would oppose," Nussle said.
Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate Agriculture
Committee and one of the bill's negotiators, said that Bush has not told him
directly he'll veto the bill, but White House staffers have made it clear to him
that Bush's support is unlikely.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a supporter of the bill, said she wished it had
gone further in limiting payments to wealthy farmers. Pelosi said she would have
"preferred more commodity reform," referring to scaling back subsidies, but
praised increases for nutrition programs, which make up two-thirds of the bill's
cost.
The legislation would:
-- Increase the nutrition programs, including food stamps and emergency
domestic food assistance, by more than $10 billion over ten years. It would also
expand a program to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to schoolchildren.
-- Expand subsidies for certain crops, extend dairy programs and increase
loan rates for sugar producers. It includes language which calls on the federal
government to buy surplus sugar and sell it to ethanol producers, where it would
be used in a mixture with corn.
-- Make small cuts to direct payments, which are distributed to some
producers no matter how much they grow.
-- Cut a per-gallon ethanol tax credit that supports blending fuel with the
corn-based additive from 51 cents to 45 cents in favor of more money for
cellulosic ethanol, which is made from plant matter.
-- Add dollars for conservation programs designed to protect farmland.
-- Require that meats and other fresh foods be labeled with their country of
origin.
-- Eliminate loopholes that now allow farmers to collect subsidies for
multiple farm businesses.
-- Cut expanded food assistance for an international school lunch program
that was passed in the House farm bill last year. While the House had included
more than $800 million in permanent dollars for the McGovern-Dole program, the
final bill includes less than $100 million.
-- Pay farmers for weather-related farm losses out of a new $3.8 billion
disaster assistance fund. Schafer on Thursday criticized the program, which he
says questions the government's investments in existing crop insurance for
farmers and discredits farm programs.
-- Give tax breaks to owners of race horses, a provision added by Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Animal rights groups criticized the
provision, saying Congress shouldn't help the industry in the wake of a Kentucky
Derby entrant collapsing and having to be euthanized last weekend.
In recent days, congressional negotiators have come closer to the White
House in terms of how much money would be paid to wealthy farmers, one of the
biggest sticking points with the Bush administration.
The bill would eliminate some government payments to individuals who make
more than $750,000 -- or married farmers who make more than $1.5 million -- in
farm income annually.
Individuals who make more than $500,000, or couples who make more than $1
million jointly, in non-farm income would also be ineligible for subsidies.
Under current law, there is no income limit for farmers, and married couples
who make less than one-fourth of their income from farming will not receive
subsidies if their joint income exceeds $5 million.
The Bush administration originally proposed a new cap for those who make
more than $200,000 in annual gross income, but has indicated it could accept a
limit of $500,000. As of last week, negotiators were considering a $950,000
income cap on farm income.
Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., said members were meeting Thursday
to coordinate a House override strategy.
Herseth Sandlin said she is optimistic that the chamber would approve the
bill if Bush vetoes it. But House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio signaled
Thursday that he would vote against the bill.
"I think, in a time of high commodity prices, to be raising loan limits and
target prices just really flies in the face of reality," he said.
Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican from the farm state of Nebraska, also
criticized the bill.
"The loopholes are still there," Hagel said. "It's larded down with pork.
It's just a bad bill."
Associated Press writers Ben Evans and Andrew Taylor in Washington and
Nelson Lampe in Omaha contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|