The House today passed the Farm Bill, H.R.2419, by a vote of 318-106. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco declared victory:

“The Farm Bill is a first step in reforming America’s farm policies and a giant leap forward in helping Americans who are struggling with the high cost of groceries and gasoline.

“By an overwhelming, veto-proof margin, the House approved a Farm Bill that will drastically increase nutrition initiatives that will help 38 million American families put healthy food on their table. As Time magazine recently pointed out, this legislation will also help to reduce rising food costs by providing emergency assistance to farmers to help them get their food to market, cutting ethanol subsidies, and increasing support for food banks, pantries, and soup kitchens.

“High energy prices are contributing to higher food prices and are straining family budgets, which is why the Farm Bill makes a $1 billion investment in energy independence and supports the transition to cellulosic ethanol. These efforts will help ensure that we send our energy dollars to the Midwest and across America, instead of the Middle East, and help reduce the high cost of energy.

“While I would have preferred additional commodity reforms, the bill does improve upon current law. With this legislation, the New Direction Congress will help families facing high food prices and fuel our nation’s energy needs with American-made, renewable energy.”

Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, said the bill makes historic investments in specialty crops like the almonds, asparagus, and grapes grown in San Joaquin County, in conservation efforts like soil erosion and clean air and water, as well as in renewable energy programs:

“This Farm bill invests in California’s priorities by ensuring that for the first time ever there are funds to support specialty crop research and expand specialty crop markets. I’m proud of this bill and the impact it will make in San Joaquin County and throughout California.

“The bill implements needed reforms to commodity and other payment programs cutting direct farm payments as well as payments to crop insurers making windfall profits. I would like to have seen more reforms and an even greater reduction in payments to commodity farmers, but the measures included here represent a very important first step.”

Representatives Barbara Lee, D-Oakland; George Miller, D-Martinez; Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo; Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma; Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough; Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto; Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose; and Mike Honda, D-San Jose all voted for the bill, too.

But Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, is having none of it:

“Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to a Farm Bill Conference Report (H.R. 2419) that will continue our wasteful agricultural policy for another five years. It is a rare day indeed that I agree with President Bush, but he is absolutely right to have issued a veto threat of this bill.

“With farm income and food prices at or near record highs, now is the perfect time for reform. Unfortunately, this conference report, while masquerading as a reform package, simply tinkers around the edges of our bloated agri-business subsidies. Our current ‘farm policy’ is little more than corporate welfare, with benefits flowing to large corporate operations at the expense of small farmers, both here and abroad, who actually need help. Under current policy the top 10% of recipients received 75% of all subsidies, while 67% of farms receive nothing. This is not good for rural communities, small farms, or taxpayers.

“At best, this conference report represents ‘half a loaf,’ as the group Bread for the World has said. The conferees got the nutrition title right and I commend them for it. There are important changes to the eligibility rules for the food stamps program as well as a raise in the minimum benefit. These changes, along with increases in funding for emergency food aid will have a real impact on the millions of families who are struggling to put food on their tables. If all this bill contained were the nutrition title, I would proudly support it. For all the conference accomplished on nutrition, they failed in greater measure on reforming farm subsidies.

“Proponents of the conference report argue that it represents ‘reform.’ They can’t be serious. Under this so-called reform, farmers filing jointly could have an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $2.5 million, or $1 million if their only source of income is farm-related and they could still receive subsidies. This amounts to cutting off only 0.3% of farmers from the dole. The report does nothing to means test countercyclical payments. Furthermore, the report creates an entirely new $4 billion permanent disaster program that is not only wasteful and redundant, but will also encourage pushing marginal and environmentally sensitive land into production. This is not reform.

“Real reform would mean eliminating all subsidizes for corn-based ethanol, which have driven up food costs around the world. Real reform would mean ending direct payments except for farmers who actually need assistance. By passing this bill, Congress is missing a golden opportunity to enact real reform. We should not wait another five years to make our farm policy equitable and responsible. By rejecting the conference report we can begin the important work of enacting a fair Farm Bill. I urge all of my colleagues to vote no.”