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Override the farm bill veto

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By Times staff | Friday, May 23, 2008 |

Phony stimulus loans.

Tax cuts for the wealthy.

Endless war.

President Bush is clear what he will spend money on. He’s also clear about what he won’t. He vetoed the farm bill, just as he said he would, under the guise of reining in

spending.

How much spending?

The Congressional Budget Office provided the most critical estimate on the cost of this farm bill. The CBO puts the entire cost at $307 billion from 2008 through 2012.

Sustaining the Bush tax cuts for the same period would exceed $1 trillion.

The phony stimulus loans to taxpayers exceed $160 billion in the next six months alone.

War costs are expected to exceed $3 trillion.

We agree the president has to start somewhere to rein in spending. But not on the farm bill.

The compromise championed by Sens. Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley isn’t perfect. But it takes giant steps in the right direction by starting to clamp down on subsidy payments to wealthy farm owners. This bill limits subsidies to those earning no more than $750,000 in non-farm income. Bush’s insistence on a $200,000 cap is politically unrealistic. He can’t convince members of his own party to buy it. Plus, it has comparatively little effect on the cost of the farm bill. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates the $200,000 earnings cap would save $1.5 billion over 10 years.

The bill does push the U.S. farther down the road to bio-energy from sources other than food. Incentives for producing and refining switchgrass and similar plants will foster more heartland energy production, further reducing the need for foreign fuel and stimulating America’s rural economies.

This is among the few examples of comprehensive, thoughtful policy enacted by this Congress. This farm bill enjoyed deep enough bipartisan support to assure an override, which we support.