President Reiterates Veto Threat

During Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer's swearing-in ceremony, President Bush said the farm bill legislation Congress is now considering seems to lack reform, spends too much money and raises taxes.

The Administration's farm bill proposal calls for: (1) denying commodity subsidies to people with adjusted gross income (AGI) above $200,000 a year; (2) keeping the $2.5 million a year AGI limit for access to land stewardship programs; (3) attributing payments to individuals; (4) ending the three-entity rule; (5) mandating tighter rules on who is "actively engaged" if they do not provide labor, (6) and keeping landowners who take a share of the crop as rent eligible for subsidies.

Saying that Secretary Schafer understands the importance of a good farm bill, President Bush said the Administration's priorities for USDA include "working to make our strong agriculture sector even stronger. Ed understands what I know - it makes a lot of sense to make sure that we can grow our own food. It's in our national security interest that we're self-sufficient in food. Farm income, farm equity and farm exports have all reached all-time records. The best way to keep the ag economy growing is to open up new markets for America's crops and farm products around the world."

Source: National Cotton Council