Take Two Of The Farm Bill Passes

The Senate voted 77-15 earlier this month to approve the new, and now complete, $290 billion farm bill including the Trade Title, a total of 34 pages, that was mistakenly left out of the first version of the bill sent to President Bush.

Senate Ag Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) said he was hoping for a voice vote. However, delaying the vote, Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Jim DeMint of (R-SC) demanded time to debate the legislation followed by a roll call vote as conditions for allowing the Senate to act on the measure.

DeMint called the farm bill a “big spending boondoggle” that contains “numerous wasteful spending provisions,” and authorizes “$5.2 billion annually in direct payments to individuals without any regard to prices or income, 60% of which go to the wealthiest 10% of recipients.”

Bush has continued to say the bill, which extends agriculture and nutrition programs, is too expensive and too generous, with subsidies for farmers who are already enjoying record-high incomes.