President Bush Vetoes Farm Bill; The House Overrides

For only the second time during his Presidency, George W. Bush has seen one of his vetoes reversed.

The House quickly rejected President Bush's veto of a $290 billion farm bill Wednesday, and the Senate was poised to follow suit, a stark rebuke of a president overridden only once in his two terms.

Republicans abandoned the president (and their House leadership) in droves over this bill, designed to provide assistance to farmers and pay for nutrition programs.

Supporters praised the spending on food stamps and emergency food aid.

"Twenty-five percent of my state is now in need of food assistance," said Rep. Thaddeus G. McCotter, R-Michigan. "I work for them, not for the president."

One would have to wonder, then, who Kansas Republican Representative Jerry Moran works for- he voted against today's successful override.

More on the Farm Bill

Another article today from the Wall Street Journal talking about why the Farm Bill found veto proof success, even though the President and the Republican leadership in the House instructed members to vote against it (which bleary-eyed lapdogs Todd Tiahrt & Jerry Moran dutifully did).

Last time around, Republicans were pretty generous when it came to larding up the farm bill.

This year, though, some of them had a change of attitude.

President Bush directed his party to get back to its fiscally conservative roots. He said he would prefer no new farm bill to the one written by Democrats.

The elected leader of the House Republicans, John Boehner from a corn-growing district in western Ohio, called the bill “a great example of what’s wrong in Washington.”

But half of Rep. Boehner’s caucus didn’t see it that way – 100 Republicans voted for the bill, which racked up such a large victory margin – 318-106 – that overriding a veto shouldn’t pose much of a problem, if it comes to that.

It’s a testament to the power of an important constituency in both congressional and presidential contests: the rural vote.

Yep, the rural vote, and the deep necessity to protect our farmers. Democrats and Republicans expressed the same reason for voting as they did: "I was voting my district."

That's what Nancy Boyda did. Dennis Moore, who's district has almost no farmers (if any) voted the way he knew Kansas farmers needed him to vote. Even Senators Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback voted with a veto-proof majority in the Senate to pass the bill (though they both expressed the same hesitations Boyda did- that the bill wasn't perfect, but it was certainly better than nothing). Heck, Farm Bureau back the dang bill.

Only Tiahrt & Moran seemed to forget they represent a state of farmers and not San Francisco. Luckily Nancy Boyda was looking out for their constituents.

Boyda Joins Veto-Proof Majority in Backing the Farm Bill

From the Hutch News:

Democrat Nancy Boyda, of Topeka, said the bill is far from perfect, but called the measure a reasonable compromise that won the backing of most major farm groups, including the Kansas Farm Bureau.

"I think we all worked to restore those cuts to direct payments, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking that direct payments were slashed," Boyda said. "Over 10 years you'll see less than one half of a percent of the direct payments cut, which I'm not saying is a good thing, but we just need to keep it in perspective."

"The farm groups are not happy about it, but it could have been worse and they know it," Boyda said.

The Farm Bill, which is our national safety net for our farmers, has been delayed for months by threats of vetoes from the president and endless partisan bickering, will provide support to millions of farmers nationwide. While the bill isn't perfect, it's seen as the best that could be done in the present political climate in Washington.

Kansas Farm Bureau President Steve Baccus said his group supported the bill, despite some misgivings, and encouraged the state's delegation to vote for it.

"We don't like the fact that they had cuts to direct payments and cuts to federal crop insurance which is extremely important to our folks," Baccus said. "At the same time, we've gone though a lengthy process of negotiations and this bill is just a compromise. We feel like under the current scenario with the current administration and the current Congress, it's probably the best deal we could work out."

The bill thankfully cut payments to single farmers with an annual income of $750,000 or more, or to married farmers with an annual income of $1.5 million.