AFP.com | Agence France-Presse, a global news
agency
December 14, 2007
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Senate passed Friday a massive farm
bill packed with consequences for global trade, but its fate
remained unclear because it already has drawn a presidential
veto threat.
The Senate passed the five-year farm plan by a vote of 79-14.
The measure must now be reconciled with its House of Representatives
version before it is presented to President George W. Bush.
In July, the Democratic-controlled House passed its version
of the multibillion-dollar plan that provides the safety net
for farmers and ranchers, governing the amount of subsidies
and aid available and a raft of other provisions, such as nutrition
and conservation programs.
Bush's Republican administration has been threatening to veto
the legislation, partly over what it says are high subsidies,
a major stumbling block in the Doha Round of global trade negotiations.
Some observers suggest the threat may be difficult to deliver
on, considering the already heated political maneuvering for
the 2008 presidential race.
The pressure is on to enact the controversial 2007-2012 measure
because the current bill expired on September 30, the end of
the government's fiscal year.
Senator Dick Lugar, one of the 14 senators who voted against
the measure, said the bill unfairly favored a relatively small
group of farmers.
"I hope that reform momentum can continue to build until
we have a more fiscally responsible safety net for all farmers
rather than subsidies for a select few," he said.
Critics say the House and Senate farm bills are packed with
taxes and budget gimmicks and lack sufficient restructuring.
"Despite record commodity prices and farm income, the
Senate today proposed to extend lavish subsidies to a handful
of large commercial farms," The Grocery Manufacturers
Association said in a statement.
"The farm bill passed today extends Depression-era price
supports that help few farms, harm small farmers, raise food
costs, and violate our commitments to our trading partners
and the poor," the food retailers group said.
Key political questions are whether Bush really is willing
to cast an election-year veto on a bill that is popular in
Republican states and whether Democrats in the Senate can peel
away enough Republican members to overcome the president's
resistance.
The Bush administration is under fierce pressure to help unblock
the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization, launched in
the Qatari capital six years ago and aimed at lowering trade
barriers and encouraging development.
Developing nation critics of farm subsidies say they allow
developed countries to dump excess production on world markets
at an unfairly low cost, depriving many developing and poor
countries of strengthening their own farm-sector exports.
The United States and the European Union, also known for lavish
farm subsidies, are at loggerheads over WTO proposals to cut
farm subsidies.
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