Bush administration threatens Farm Bill veto and Republican leader objects to limit on amendments

It took a while for the Farm Bill to reach the floor of the Senate, and now there might be another hurdle in store for the legislation — a presidential veto. The Senate began debate on the bill yesterday, and Bush administration officials signaled the president might veto the legislation, saying the five-year, $288 billion bill was too costly, reports the Los Angeles Times. Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Connor said he would recommend a veto, and told reporters the bill makes "a mockery of the budget process," Nicole Gaouette writes from Washington.

"Though lawmakers have no more money to spend than they did in the 2002 farm bill, they have continued crop and farm subsidies, and added a $5-billion permanent disaster-aid fund that has drawn fire from advocates and the administration," Gaouette reports. Those subsidies remains at the forefront of the debate, and they are opposed by a "broad coalition of taxpayer advocates, medical organizations, environmentalists and religious groups," she adds.

Sens. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Byron L. Dorgan, D-N.D., plan to offer an amendment to limit payments to farmers who earn less than $250,000 a year. Sens. Richard G. Lugar, R-Ind., and Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., want to replace subsidies for cotton, wheat, corn, soybean and rice with a free insurance program for all farmers. (Read more)

This afternoon, after learning that Democratic leaders would use parliamentary procedures to limit amendments on the bill, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., issued a press release and gave a floor speech saying that was “not consistent with previous statements by the majority. For example, just yesterday, [Agriculture Committee] Chairman [Tom] Harkin [R-Ia.] reported the farm bill debate would be ‘wide open, as is usual in the Senate’ and the majority leader’s spokesman expected an open debate when he said, ‘The farm bill is the last truly amendable vehicle moving through the Senate this calendar year.’”

McConnell noted that the current bill passed under an open process in 2002 after Democrats tried to limit amendments by limiting debate. “Let’s not beat our head against a wall again this time,” he said, noting that the bill “totals almost 1,600 pages. Is the other side of the aisle suggesting that this behemoth of a bill could not be improved by an open amendments process? I am surprised and disappointed by the assertion. The United States Senate does not work this way; legislation is not just rubber-stamped by fiat.” (Read more)

Also today, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., lambasted the Washington news media for unfavorable coverage of Farm Bill issues. Dien Judge of the Iowa Independent writes that Conrad "singled out The Washington Post," which did a series of articles about the foibles of farm subsidies and rural-development programs. (Read more)