Farm Bill Fix Will Get Roll Call Vote in Senate
Senate leaders will move Thursday to pass a farm bill that includes the trade-related portion accidentally left out of the version Congress sent to President Bush in May.
A roll call vote on the $289 billion measure is scheduled for 5 p.m. Some Republicans have been blocking the Democratic leadership’s effort call up the corrected measure and quickly pass it by voice vote.
“We’re going to try it again,” said Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev.
Sen. Tom Coburn , R-Okla., wants the Senate to debate the entire farm bill once again. Coburn, a fiscal conservative, arguesthe bill does too little for farmers and spends too much on nutrition and social programs, an aide said.
“They should have passed a farm bill that helped farmers in the first place,” said Don Tatro, a spokesman for Coburn, who added that there is ample time for the Senate to address the bill.
A clerical error dropped the international trade title from the version of the farm bill that Bush vetoed last month. Congress overrode that veto, enacting every other section.
The House passed the new, complete bill on May 22. Once the Senate follows suit, Bush will have to decide whether to veto the measure, forcing another round of override votes on Capitol Hill, or sign it, or allow it to become law without his signature.
Senate delay in clearing the measure has stalled deliveries of emergency assistance to countries affected by famine and natural disaster, the U.S. Agency for International Development and advocates of the bill said.
