Food, Conservation, and Energy Security Act of 2008--Veto Message from the President of the United States

FOOD, CONSERVATION, AND ENERGY SECURITY ACT OF 2008--VETO MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (H. DOC. NO. 110-115) -- (House of Representatives - May 21, 2008)

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Mr. BLUMENAUER. I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy as I appreciate his leadership. It is a pleasure to be here with my friend from Arizona (Mr. Flake) as we are going back to review some of what we said was going to happen when we were here a week ago. Remember, we talked about what would happen: As the light of day shone on this bill, there would be more things that would come up that would give pause.

Now I have had my differences with President Bush from time to time, but he did the right thing by putting the spotlight on this bill by vetoing it. As has been pointed out by my colleagues, we found out just in the course of the last couple of days something that wasn't clearly explained on the floor, how as the high commodity prices declined to more typical levels, we could end up paying an additional $16 billion of subsidy.

This bill simply is a missed opportunity for real reform. It is not turning your back on America's farmers and ranchers to suggest, as some of us have and the President argues, that you are limited to $200,000 a year of income before subsidies kick in. At a time of record commodity food prices, farm couples earning up to $1.5 million a year with an additional up to $1 million outside income simply don't need to receive government subsidy. Meanwhile, the majority of farmers who don't grow the commodity crops are going to continue to get little or no money.

It hurts a State like mine, the State of Oregon, where we are proud of what our ranchers and farmers do. But the majority of them get nothing under the existing farm bill and they will continue to get nothing under this proposal.

It troubles me that we are creating a new permanent disaster program, an additional layer of subsidy, which doesn't make sense. If a region is representing repeat disaster year after year after year, it is not really a disaster. It is growing the wrong things using the wrong techniques in the wrong places. We shouldn't turn it into an entitlement.

This bill is a missed opportunity for conservation. The National Wildlife Federation has called the farm bill a disaster for wildlife that ``fans the flames of global warming.'' The funding for conservation is not nearly enough to meet the needs. They are not met today. The majority will not be met under this bill. And, sadly, it makes cuts to important programs like the conservation reserve program, the wetland reserve program. I am disappointed that it also guts the sod saver program that protects important prairie and grassland habitat.

I mentioned last time that I was on the floor that this bill nullifies a Federal appeals court decision under the Freedom of Information Act that ordered USDA to make public data that is critical to monitoring the economic and environmental impacts of these subsidies.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman from Oregon has expired.

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