Final Farm Bill is unveiled, faces a veto by Bush

UPDATE, 7 p.m: The final version of the Farm Bill "will have to overcome a veto by President Bush to actually make it into law," Peter Shinn of Brownfield Network reported this afternoon from Washington. Congressional negotiators said they might be able to override a veto. The bill bans subsidies "to anyone making more than $500,000 of non-farm adjusted gross income per year and ending direct payments to anyone with an AGI of more than $750,000 a year from any source. The Bush administration had wanted a $200,000 AGI means test for all farm program payments." (Read more) The limit could be $1.5 million for a couple if both were deemed to be farmers. The effort to limit subsidies was blocked by rice and cotton producers, Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., told Brownfield's Bob Meyer. (Read more)

Earlier post, revised: "The House is viewed as less likely to override a veto," writes Philip Brasher, Washington reporter for The Des Moines Register. "The 231-191 vote on the House version of the bill last summer fell well short of the two-thirds majority." Bush said the bill would cost too much and not do enough to limit subsidy payments for the wealthy. "The administration also wanted the bill to liberalize rules for international food aid so that some commodities could be procured closer to where they are needed rather than being shipped from the United States," Brasher reports. (Read more)