020237 Bush Wants Changes to Farm Bill

Washington - President Bush says a Senate-passed farm bill "doesn't get the job done" and pledges to work with congressional negotiators on a compromise that would be less costly and better for producers.

The Democratic-crafted bill, which passed the Senate 58-40, authorizes $45 billion in new spending for agriculture, conservation and nutrition spending over the next five years, a 26% increase over current programs.

A House-passed measure, also criticized by the Bush administration, authorized a $38 billion increase over the same period.

The White House says the Senate bill is too expensive and certain to stimulate price-depressing crop surpluses because of its increases in subsidy rates. The legislation also could violate subsidy limits under an international trade agreement.

But Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said the Senate bill would "provide certainty to producers, fix our failed farm safety net and help address the challenges we face in rural America."

One of Bush's top priorities, the creation of special subsidized savings accounts for farmers, a cornerstone of Canadian farm policy, was soundly rejected by the Senate, 80-17. Bush and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman have said they want Congress to authorize the savings program.

Democrats said the Senate vote suggests there is little congressional support for the idea.

Both the House and Senate versions represent dramatic departures from the Republican-authored 1996 farm law that was intended to wean farmers from government subsidies.

"We're basically involving government in agriculture in some ways more than it ever has been involved," said Otto Doering, an agricultural economist at Purdue University.

Control of the Senate could hinge on races in several key farm states this year, including Minnesota and South Dakota. "This bill is tremendously important for the 2002 congressional election," Doering said.

There are numerous thorny issues for the House and Senate negotiators to resolve, including the spending levels as well as a new payment limit that the Senate bill includes. Under the legislation, no farm could receive more than $275,000 per year in total payments. Some subsidies are essentially unlimited now.

"Everything is open" to negotiation, said Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

A congressional budget agreement last year set aside $73.5 billion in new farm spending over the next decade, a level the Bush administration supports. Administration officials, however, complain that the Senate bill spends too much of that -- $45 billion -- before 2007. Congress could then be forced to cut programs or increase spending.

"I am committed to sound farm policy that supports America's farmers and ranchers and am disappointed that the Senate-passed bill doesn't get the job done," Bush said. "This bill front-loads spending into the first five years, leaving vital programs underfunded in the years that follow."

Senate Democratic leaders added money in the early years of the bill to expand conservation programs and win the support of environmental groups.

Other important issues for the negotiators will include provisions of the Senate bill requiring country-of-origin labels on meat and produce; a ban on meatpackers owning their own cattle; and subsidies for farmers who agree to reduce their use of irrigation water to protect Atlantic salmon and other endangered fish.

Farm groups want the new farm programs to take effect this year, so lawmakers hope to reach agreement by Easter on a compromise bill that President Bush will sign.

The government says farm earnings would drop nearly 20% this year unless enacts a new farm program or approves another round of emergency assistance.

Lawmakers have passed a series of bailouts for the farm economy in each of the last four years, following a collapse in commodity prices in 1998, to supplement the payments growers receive under the 1996 farm law.

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