By ELIZABETH BECKER | New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 - President Bush jumped into the debate over American farm policy today, saying he supported generous federal subsidies for farmers as long as those payments stayed within the budget.
In his first remarks about the 10- year, $171 billion farm bill now stalled in the Senate, Mr. Bush tried to reassure Republicans from agriculture states that he would not abandon farm subsidies. At the same time, he tried to stick to an earlier administration goal of spreading the subsidies to give more to smaller farmers.
He said he favored the current safety net, which mostly helps the large farmers of grain and cotton. But he also said he wanted the government to finance savings accounts that would help all farmers based on need. "A good farm bill should be generous, but affordable. It should honor the budget limits that Congress has agreed to live by," Mr. Bush said.
Normally of interest only to the handful of states that receive huge grain and cotton subsidies, the farm bill has become a major concern of environmental groups hoping to expand conservation measures and of advocates for greater financing for the food stamp program. And today it became a bargaining chip in the battle between the president and the Democratic-controlled Senate over several crucial economic issues.
While both parties want to appear to be a friend of farmers, Republicans in the Senate are threatening a filibuster of the farm bill unless Democrats agree to move on the president's economic stimulus package.
The Senate majority leader, Tom Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota, said today that the administration should press for immediate passage of a new farm bill even though the current law does not expire until October. "I don't think you can emphasize enough the urgency with which we need to address farm legislation," Mr. Daschle said at a news conference.
And Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa and chairman of the Agriculture Committee, backed away from his proposal to cut crop subsidies to the wealthiest farmers, hoping to win the support of the Southern Democrats on his committee. But the administration had sharp words for the Democratic measure supported by Mr. Daschle and Mr. Harkin.
Appearing with the president at a farm convention here, Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman said the Democrats' bill would deepen the current cycle of encouraging farmers to produce too much, leading to lower prices and to farmers pleading for expensive bailouts.
"This creates pressure for more government payments, thereby creating a self-defeating and ultimately unsustainable cycle," Ms. Veneman said. The White House had similar complaints about the Republican farm bill that passed the House last month. That attempt to provide regular support for farmers went against several goals outlined in the administration's farm policy blueprint.
Mr. Bush underlined his concerns today saying, "A good farm bill should keep the safety net under our food producers, without misleading our farmers into overproducing crops."
His answer for American farmers who produce far more food than the domestic market can consume is to expand trade. The president said the recent trade summit in Doha, Qatar, could help open new markets to American agricultural exports.
"Doha shows the way toward a more level playing field," he said. "That's good news for the world's hungry; it's good news for the world's most productive food producers - the American farmers."
But several proposals in the various farm measures being considered by Congress could violate existing trade agreements. The president warned that any farm bill had to "honor our trade obligations as we expect our competitors to honor their obligations."
Democrats said these complaints could stall the farm bill indefinitely and jeopardize the financing for farm subsidies. Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota and chairman of the Budget Committee, has warned that with the economy sliding, money for the farm bill could disappear next year. Even if Mr. Daschle succeeds in bringing the farm bill up for a vote, lawmakers from both parties plan to offer amendments to shift money from the crop subsidy program to environmental programs and to change the subsidy program itself.
In his speech, the president repeatedly turned to the war in Afghanistan and praised farmers for their role in it.
"As we speak, trucks and planes are delivering American food to the hungry in Afghanistan," Mr. Bush said. "Those rations say, `A gift from the people of the United States.' This gift is made possible by the farmers in our country, and I want to thank you for it."By ELIZABETH BECKER:
