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Farm Bill Enacted, or At Least Most of It

By Jim Chen at al.

On May 14, the House passed the conference report on the farm bill, a five-year, approximately $300 billion package that includes something for everyone to like and something for everyone to dislike, with a veto proof margin of 318-106. On May 15, the Senate passed the report, 81-15.

As Mike Soraghan reported in The Hill, the official "parchment" copy of the 1768 page bill that was sent to the President and subsequently vetoed was missing 34 pages due to a clerical error. Perhaps they should have emailed a pdf. As a result, the bill that the President vetoed did not include Title III, one of fifteen of the bill?s titles, the one that deals with trade and international food-assistance programs.

The House Democrats quickly passed a second, full version of the 1,768-page bill, again by a veto-proof margin, 306-110. The Senate, however, chose not to take up the House-passed bill and instead completed the override. They indicated that the missing title could be passed separately. The result, however, was a political squabble with House Republicans.

A press release from the House Agriculture Committee explained, "[m]ost of the farm bill is now law and the Administration can begin implementing the new programs and policies immediately."

As noted in the following video, the White House and the media has had a field day talking about the embarrassment.

Full post as published by Agricultural Law on May 24, 2008 (boomark / email).