The Farm Bill is one step away from becoming law, with only the promised Presidential signature needed for enactment.
With a vote of 64 to 35, the US Senate gave its final blessing Wednesday.
The House passed the bill last week.
And as NHPR correspondent Don Rush reports from Washington, the Granite State's Republican Senators were on the losing side.
THE NEW FARM BILL?SPENDS AROUND
170 BILLION DOLLARS OVER THE NEXT TEN YEARS.
AND AS IT POURS BILLIONS OF DOLLARS INTO NEW
SUBSIDIES?THE MEASURE MOVES AWAY FROM THE
OLD 1996 FREEDOM TO FARM ACT ? DESIGNED TO
WEAN FARMERS OFF SUCH SUPPORT.
AND THAT STRUCK A PARTISAN NOTE?AS
REPUBLICANS OFFERED STRONG OPPOSITION TO
THE MEASURE.
ALL FOUR REPUBLICANS FROM THE GRANTITE
STATE?TWO IN THE HOUSE?TWO IN THE SENATE?
VOTED AGAINST THE LEGISLATION.
WITH THE SENATE JUST A FEW HOURS AWAY
FROM FINAL PASSAGE YESTERDAY?NEW
HAMSPHIRE?S JUDD GREGG?DENOUNCED THE
MEASURE?AS A GIVE AWAY OF TAXPAYERS MONEY.
?TAPE?(SOUND: It is truly ironic in fact, when you
think about it, because the way the farm program works today,
for those people who are on the system, is that the federal government essentially pays through tax dollars of the american people through their tax dollars essentially pays for the net income
of those farmers. 46 percent of the net income of farming as a result of this bill ? 46 percent ? will go will be paid for by tax dollars) (GREGG 2)
GREGG SAID THAT IN STATES?LIKE
IOWA?SOUTH DAKOTA?MINNESOTA?ARKANSAS
AND MISSOURI?THE PAYMENTS WILL ACTUALLY
EXCEED NET INCOME.
AND THE GRANITE STATE REPUBLICAN?PICKED
UP ON THE GENERAL LINE OF THE G-O-P?HEARD
THROUGHOUT THE DEBATE?THAT THIS BILL WAS
JUST TOO EXPENSIVE:
?TAPE?(SOUND: The increase in spending above the baseline here which is approximately a 173 billion dollars is beyond anything we can afford as an economy as taxpayers but more importantly the policy in this bill totally perverts the market and in my opinion drives us in the wrong direction away from a market oriented farm policy) (GREGG)
BUT THE STATE?S AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER
STEVE TAYLOR WAS DELIGHTED WITH THE BILL:
?TAPE?(SOUND: The northeast and New Hampshire have made out the best in this farm bill of any of the farm bill that have been passed probably since world war two.
TAYLOR POINTS TO THE RESTORATION OF THE
BENEFITS OF THE NORTHEAST DAIRY COMPACT?THAT
PROVIDES ASSISTANCE TO DAIRY FARMERS.
ONLY NOW?HE NOTES?THE PROGRAM IS
NATIONWIDE.
IN ADDITION?TAYLOR EXPECTS MAJOR
INCREASES IN SPENDING FOR FARM CONSERVATION
AND LAND PROTECTION.
BUT THE NEW HAMPSHIRE FARM BUREAU
FEDERATION WANTED MORE.
ESPECIALLY FOR THE SMALL FARMERS.
REPUBLICANS HAVE NOTED?THAT 60 PERCENT
OF CROP PAYMENTS GO TO FEWER THAN 10 PERCENT
OF THE FARMERS.
AND IN SOME CASES?THEY ARGUE?THE FAMILY
FARMER DOES NOT RECEIVE ANYTHING AT ALL.
ROB JOHNSON?IS THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE FARM BUREAU FEDERATION:
?TAPE?(SOUND: I wouldn?t say we received enough. I would say the big commodity producing states did make out and that?s a big reason why our congressional delegation voted against it. They were hoping in this farm bill there would be a real change from past farm bills that target assistance to the family farm, the small producer) (NHFBSMALL PRODUCER)
BUT SENATOR TOM HARKIN?WHO LED THE FIGHT
ON THE FLOOR?NOTED THAT THERE WERE MANY
BENEFITS FOR THE NORTHEAST.
THE IOWA DEMOCRAT NOTED?IN PARTICULAR?
THE ADDITION OF SPECIALTY CROPS LIKE BLUE
BERRIES?POTATOS?APPLES AND VEGETABLES?
TO THE SUBSIDY LIST.
?TAPE?(SOUND: They are going to be helped immensely under this bill as the senator from Michigan stated. We have a 200 million dollar floor annually on purchases of specialty crops and that?s what the farmers in New England grow. They grow specialty crops. They never had anythng like this.)
THE VOTE IN THE NEW ENGLAND STATES BROKE
MOSTLY ALONG PARTY LINES?WITH REPUBLICANS
OPPOSING THE MEASURE.
THE KEY EXCEPTION WAS REPUBLICAN
OLYMPIA SNOWE?WHO WAS LISTED AS CASTING
CAST HER BALLOT FOR THE BILL.
BUT HER COLLEAGUE FROM MAINE?SUSAN
COLLINS?JOINED HER G-O-P COLLEAGUES IN
OPPOSITION?SAYING SHE BELIEVED?NEW ENGLAND
WAS NOT GETTING ENOUGH:
?TAPE?(SOUND: ?I can?t help but feel that Maine and other northeastern states have been tossed a little bit of hush money, and then asked then to turn the other way while big agribusinesses raid the U-S treasury of funds that are sorely needed for education, for prescription drugs, and defense?and other priorities. (COLLINS)
AND THERE ARE POLITICS COMING FROM BOTH
SIDES OF THE AISLE.
ELECTORAL BATTLE GROUND STATES LIKE SOUTH
DAKOTA?IOWA?MISSOURI AND ARKANSAS?ARE
BENEFITING PROMINENTLY FROM THE SUBSIDIES.
AND THAT SAYS? NEW HAMSPHIRE AGRICULTURE
COMMISSIONER STEVE TAYLOR?IS A GOOD THING FOR
THE GRANITE STATE:
?TAPE?(SOUND: What you had was Democrats and Republicans falling over themselves that the farm consituenies in those states were well taken care of and in order to get the votes to do that money had to be sent to places like the northeast as well.
Policy issues aside, the northeast is better off under this farm bill than we did than on any other in recent memory) (TAYLOR BETTER)
THE LEGISLATION NOW GOES TO THE WHITE
HOUSE?WHERE THE PRESIDENT HAS INDICATED?HE
WOULD SIGN THE MEASURE.
FOR NHPR NEWS
THIS IS DON RUSH
IN WASHINGTON
