House OKs farmer-subsidy bill

WASHINGTON — House Democrats voted Friday to approve a farm bill that would continue generous farmers' subsidies at a time of record crop prices, ignoring a veto threat and yowls of protest by Republicans over a tax provision that they said spoiled bipartisan support for the bill.

The bill passed, 231-191, with 19 Republicans joining 212 Democrats in favor, after a morning of rancorous debate and some hooting and howling that focused not on agriculture policy but on the tax provision inserted to pay for a $4 billion increase in food stamps.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said he had to oppose what had been a commonsense bill that would have "ensured the viability of the family farmer for the next generation" because of the last-minute addition of a tax increase that "jeopardizes thousands of American jobs."

The bill also included provisions from Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to overturn a more than 30-year-old ban on interstate shipment of state-inspected meat.

The provisions would give national and international consumers access to meat products produced by ranchers and smaller meat-packing plants in Utah and other states. Utah has 32 plants authorized to inspect meat.

"It is absurd that meat inspected overseas can be shipped anywhere in the United States without restriction, but Utah's small businesses are prohibited from shipping their products across state lines," Hatch said. "We shouldn't hold Utah's meat producers to a different standard than their foreign competitors."

The relatively swift passage of the $280 billion five-year bill was a victory for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who untangled a thicket of competing interests. Pelosi faced accusations from fellow Democrats that she abandoned her demands to reform the subsidies in favor of protecting potentially vulnerable freshman Democrats from rural districts.

Pelosi hailed the bill as historic for ending subsidy payments to farmers earning more than $1 million a year, creating support for fruit and vegetable growers, and for increasing money for nutrition, land conservation, and other programs like researching alternative fuels like cellulose-based ethanol.

"Future farm bills will never look the same as those of the past," she said on the House floor.

Democratic leaders scrambled down to the wire to shore up support as they braced for opposition to the tax provision. In last-minute amendments, the Democrats added more money for nutrition, including $840 million for an international food aid program sought by Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.