Technical Error Clouds Congressional Override of President's Farm Bill Veto

Congress voted last week to override President George Bush's veto of the Farm Bill, turning 14 of the bill's 15 titles into law before the Memorial Day recess. Realizing that the vetoed version was missing the title section on trade programs, the U.S. House of Representatives hastily introduced and passed a separate bill to include the missing section, but the U.S. Senate and the President have yet to act on it.

The House voted 316-108 last Wednesday to override the Presidential veto of the bill without the trade title. On Thursday, it introduced the separate bill (H.R. 6124) that incorporated the trade title and made other small corrections. The U.S. Senate cast 82 votes to override the veto, but it did not pass the new bill before leaving Washington for the holiday weekend.

The inadvertently omitted section of the Farm Bill contains the "Market Access Program," which has provided government funding to the U.S. Dairy Export Council for promoting exports. The trade title also funds the Export Credit Guarantee program, which provides financing for commercial exports of U.S. agricultural products and international food aid.

"This has been an unusual process and perhaps a fitting end to the Farm Bill," said Jerry Slominski, IDFA senior vice president. "The Senate is expected to approve the new bill and the President will likely veto it. It looks like we may see yet another override vote next month regarding the entire Farm Bill, not just 14 of 15 titles."

In the meantime, the Farm Bill has generated considerable editorial opposition, with critical news stories, editorials and opinion pieces appearing in a variety of media outlets. A San Francisco Chronicle editorial on May 20, for example, states, "A better solution would be a deserved White House veto that survives a congressional challenge."

The New York Times featured an opinion piece on May 20, that states, "Under the legislation, the government will buy sugar for roughly twice the world price and then resell it at an 80 percent loss."

A Washington Post editorial on May 22 features this subhead, "You thought you knew how bad the farm bill was," and concludes, "But we can only wonder what other expensive surprises still lurk within this profoundly wasteful legislation."

To read IDFA's summary of the dairy and sugar provisions included in the final Farm Bill, members may click here. Members with questions may contact Slominski at jslominski@idfa.org or 202-220-3512.

Posted May 27, 2008