Reaching Well Beyond the Farm
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
New York Times
WASHINGTON — Few pieces of legislation generate the level of public scorn consistently heaped upon the farm bill.
Presidents and agriculture secretaries denounce it. Editorial boards rail against it. Good-government groups mock it. Global trading partners formally protest it. Even farmers gripe about it.
But as Congress proved again last week, few pieces of major legislation also get such overwhelming bipartisan support — enough, in the case of the current farm bill, to override the veto expected by President Bush any day now. The Senate vote on Thursday, 81 to 15, was the widest margin for a farm bill since 1973, when food stamps were added.
While most of the complaints are directed at Congress for squandering an opportunity to revamp farm subsidies when crops are at record-high prices, the sweeping 673-page bill touches on so many other issues of enormous importance to lawmakers and their constituents, rural and urban alike, that many say it is no longer accurate to call it the “farm bill.”
Amid high food prices, it increases spending on food stamps and other nutrition programs, sealing the support of urban lawmakers. It aids fruit and vegetable growers for the first time, attracting votes from California, Florida and Michigan.
(Continued here.)
New York Times
WASHINGTON — Few pieces of legislation generate the level of public scorn consistently heaped upon the farm bill.
Presidents and agriculture secretaries denounce it. Editorial boards rail against it. Good-government groups mock it. Global trading partners formally protest it. Even farmers gripe about it.
But as Congress proved again last week, few pieces of major legislation also get such overwhelming bipartisan support — enough, in the case of the current farm bill, to override the veto expected by President Bush any day now. The Senate vote on Thursday, 81 to 15, was the widest margin for a farm bill since 1973, when food stamps were added.
While most of the complaints are directed at Congress for squandering an opportunity to revamp farm subsidies when crops are at record-high prices, the sweeping 673-page bill touches on so many other issues of enormous importance to lawmakers and their constituents, rural and urban alike, that many say it is no longer accurate to call it the “farm bill.”
Amid high food prices, it increases spending on food stamps and other nutrition programs, sealing the support of urban lawmakers. It aids fruit and vegetable growers for the first time, attracting votes from California, Florida and Michigan.
(Continued here.)
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