Saturday, July 4, 2009

Farm Bill Clears Senate with Overwhelming Majority

For Immediate Release: May 15, 2008

Contact: Liz Friedlander, 202-314-3191

WASHINGTON (May 15, 2008) – The U.S. Senate today followed yesterday’s action in the House of Representatives by approving the farm bill conference report, sending the bill to the president’s desk.

The Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 passed the Senate by a 81-15 vote.

“The Senate’s vote demonstrates the broad support the 2008 Farm Bill has across the country,” NFU President Tom Buis said. “It’s taken two years to get to this point and while no piece of legislation is ever perfect this is a good bill and I am pleased to see such overwhelming support in Congress.”

The 2008 Farm Bill will benefit all Americans through the following provisions:

  • Permanent disaster assistance program;
  • Mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL);
  • Interstate shipment of state inspected meat;
  • Continuation of the Milk Income Contract Loss (MILC) program with added cost of production;
  • More than $900 million for specialty crops;
  • $7.9 billion for conservation programs;
  • More than $10 billion for domestic and international nutrition programs;
  • Payment reforms by eliminating the triple entity rule and requiring direct attribution of farm program payments; and
  • Increased funding for the next generation of renewable fuels.

Buis commended those in Congress that worked so hard to write the new farm legislation – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin and Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss; House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Bob Goodlatte; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid; Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley; Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel and Rep. Earl Pomeroy; Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad; House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro; and members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and Farm Bill Conference Committee that played such a vital role.

Despite the broad, bipartisan support in Congress, President Bush has stated he plans to veto the farm bill.

“The strong votes in both the House and Senate should serve as a clear sign to the president. Vetoing the farm bill is the wrong move,” Buis said.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 11:41 am and is filed under Agriculture Programs, Energy, Environment, Rural America. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.