Reply #8: Veto-proof farm spending bill passes Senate [View All]

[ozymandius]

The Senate passed the $290 billion, five-year farm bill by a strong veto-proof margin Thursday, ensuring that the measure becomes law despite President Bush's threatened veto, which would be the first presidential veto of a farm bill since Dwight Eisenhower's in 1956.

The 81-15 Senate vote followed overwhelming bipartisan passage of the bill in the House Wednesday. The measure continues $25 billion in direct payments, mainly to grain growers despite record prices; contains $3 billion in first-ever research and marketing money for California produce growers; and creates a new "permanent disaster" program that will subsidize wheat growers who plant marginal prairie land now set aside for wildlife and watershed protection.

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California Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein both voted for the bill after joining an effort last year to radically overhaul the 1933-era subsidy system. When that effort failed, Boxer battled back-door efforts to attach pesticide and wetlands provisions she said would have set back the move toward safer farm production methods and weakened farmer participation in wetlands conservation programs. She went so far as to block the bill the last few weeks until those provisions were removed.

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Feinstein was thrilled about a provision she added that closes what she called the "Enron loophole" in energy trading on electronic platforms. The new measure extends federal regulatory oversight to electronic energy trading and requires record keeping that would end what she called excessive speculation.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/16/MNMG10N32I.DTL