CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A bill passed by Congress to increase farm subsidies and nutrition programs for the poor would help wealthy farmers at the expense of taxpayers, according to New Hampshire's two senators, who voted against it.
Sens. Judd Gregg and John Sununu, both Republicans, were among just 15 senators to vote against the $290 billion farm bill, which passed both the House and Senate this week by well more than the two-thirds majority needed to override President Bush's threatened veto.
About two-thirds of the bill would pay for domestic nutrition programs, with an additional $40 billion for farm subsidies.
"This is a time when the farm community in this country is doing pretty darned well," Gregg said in a floor speech Wednesday night. "We're setting up a subsidy structure, the purpose of which is to basically make payments to farmers who are making a lot of money on products that are doing very well."
Gregg called the bill "replete with gamesmanship," gimmicks and pet projects, including money for a farm and ranch stress assistance network.
"Now we have a stress assistance network for the family running a gas station or maybe the family that opened a restaurant and they're not doing so well, or the folks who start up a small shoe store somewhere?" he said. "The only thing that qualifies (farmers and ranchers) is that somebody somewhere came up with this program, got somebody's ear and decided to stick it in this bill."
Though the legislation would make small cuts to direct payments that are distributed to some farmers no matter how much they grow and would eliminate some federal payments to individuals with more than $750,000 in annual farm income, Sununu said overall it would leave massive subsides in place even as food prices soar.
"At a time when farms are experiencing record profit, there is absolutely no reason to provide price supports for sugar and extend the ethanol tariff," he said. "The bill is a continuation of bad economic policy that taxpayers in New Hampshire and across the country do not deserve."
Former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat who is running against Sununu, focused on the other aspects of the bill. She criticized Sununu for trying to block additional funding for food stamps, a program to provide fresh fruit and vegetables to children and emergency funding for food banks.
The bill also includes $1 billion to promote biofuels, including wood-based biofuels that would generate cleaner energy and create jobs in New Hampshire, Shaheen said.
"Today, John Sununu had a chance to stand up for New Hampshire families, but instead chose to stand up for the Bush-Cheney energy policy that has resulted in record high gas and food prices, and limited investment in alternative energy sources," she said in a statement.
Sununu responded, "How high do food prices have to go before Jeanne Shaheen will take a stand against a pork-filled bill? In attacking my vote, she has given her support to billions in earmarks, payments to farmers earning $750,000 per year, and subsidies that New Hampshire citizens pay for in taxes and at the checkout counter."
Sununu said he strongly supports the nutrition programs in the bill, "but good programs should never be held hostage to wasteful government spending."
Sununu noted that he has supported or co-sponsored several other bills designed to reduce farm subsidies while boosting nutrition programs and encouraging energy conservation. One bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Richard Lugar would have reduced subsidies by $21 billion while shifting $6 billion to conservation, $5 billion to nutrition, $1.6 billion to renewable energy and $1.5 billion to healthy foods.
The farm bill that passed Congress this week also includes $30 million for economic development and job creation in rural Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. The Northern Border Regional Commission, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., is designed to improve roads, rail lines, broadband, job training, energy generation and health care in northern New Hampshire and the other states.
