Farm bill deal suddenly appears likely
The deal would reportedly spend just under $10 billion over the Congressional Budget Baseline for farm programs and would fund it without increasing taxes. Nebraska Democratic Senator Ben Nelson said Wednesday the agreement should clear the way to farm bill passage this spring, if the Bush administration buys into the deal.
"Once you have at least the House and Senate agreeing on a number, hopefully there would be room then for agreement between conferees and the White House," Nelson observed.
But that’s no sure thing. And South Dakota Republican Senator John Thune told Brownfield Wednesday, if there’s a deal in place that most in Congress can live with, a Presidential farm bill veto could become irrelevant.
"If they don't agree to what the Senate and House are doing, then you're right, you're probably end up in a position of having to override a veto, which we will have the votes, I think, in the Senate to do," Thune said. "And the question would be if whether or not the House could get the votes to do that."
Nelson and Thune both suggested a House-Senate deal on the broad strokes of a farm bill could be announced as soon as Thursday. Thune added that the issue then becomes how quickly farm policy can be made to fit the available money, which he called "the hard part." That’s why Thune said he believes another one-month extension of the 2002 farm bill is likely, which would put a new farm bill in place by mid-April.
