Bush Will Veto Farm Bill

They’ve hinted. They’ve warned. And now the Administration said it straight out: President Bush will veto the 2007 farm bill.

“I have visited face to face with our President and he was direct and plain. The President will veto this bill,” Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said in a statement, just hours after House and Senate conferees held a news conference to announce completion of the bill.

Schafer said the bill failed to include much needed reform and increased spending by nearly $20 billion.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) responded quickly to Schafer’s statement with his own. “Like any compromise bill resulting from hard bargaining among regional and other interests, this farm bill is far from perfect. But no piece of legislation is perfect. It includes significant reforms, as well as these major advances. It deserves the President’s signature.”