Lawmakers reach agreement on farm bill

By David Rogers - Politico
Thursday, May 08, 2008 - Web Link
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May 7, 2008

A long-delayed farm bill is headed for final action in Congress after negotiators reached agreement Wednesday on a new set of income limits that seek to bar wealthy individuals from receiving direct payments under the commodity program.

The new caps would apply to anyone with farm income of more than $750,000 or non-farm earnings in excess of $500,000. In addition, no individual could receive more than $40,000 in annual direct payments — about half of what many of the largest producers get under current law.

There is still a strong risk of a veto fight with President Bush—a fight welcomed by conservative activists going into the November elections. But rural America is also a major battleground, and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) told Politico that the five-year, $300 billion-plus package will get more than 300 votes in the House next week.

Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-Va.), the ranking Republican on the House panel, talked with Bush about the Farm Bill hours before the agreement, and the Virginia lawmaker insisted he wasn’t discouraged.

“He didn’t say he was going to veto it, but he didn’t say he supported it,” Goodlatte said. “We’re going ahead with the legislation. We’re continuing to work on some of the concerns he has.”

The new income caps are more complicated and far less strict than Bush’s initial proposal, which would have barred anyone with adjusted gross income of more than $200,000 from receiving commodity subsidies.