Bush renews, through aide, Farm Bill veto threat

As congressional negotiators tried to wrap up the Farm Bill with an agreement on limiting commodity subsidies to farmers with large non-farm incomes, a White House spokesman renewed President Bush's signal that he would veto the compromise version of the bill agreed on so far.

Spokesman Scott Stanzel told Ryan Grim of The Politico, “I understand members will be meeting about this tomorrow, so things still may be a bit fluid. But, as it stands now, it is not something the president would support.” He said the bill “lacks important reforms the president has repeatedly called for. With farm incomes at an all time high, Congress shouldn’t be asking taxpayers to pay for even more government subsidies for farmers. The proposal before Congress would dramatically increase spending, in part by masking additional spending in budgetary gimmicks and accounting tricks.” (Read more) For a report from Charles Abbott of Reuters on the subsidy-limiting negotiations, click here.