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May. 21st, 2008 04:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unclejimboHouse Votes to Override Bush’s Veto of Farm Bill
WASHINGTON — The House voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday afternoon to override President Bush’s veto of the $307 billion farm bill, setting the stage for the second veto defeat of Mr. Bush’s presidency.
The 316-to-108 tally, far over the two-thirds needed to overcome a veto, sent the five-year, multipurpose bill to the Senate. Barring a last-minute shift in that chamber, senators appeared certain to vote overwhelmingly for the bill, perhaps before nightfall, sealing the president’s defeat.
Executed without ceremony, the veto was the 10th of Mr. Bush’s presidency, and there was no optimism at the White House that it would stand. The president’s spokeswoman, Dana Perino, conceded as much . “If you look at the vote count, an override is probably likely, just looking at the raw numbers of it,” she said at a news briefing hours before the House vote. She was alluding to last week’s voting, when the bill cleared the House by 318 votes to 106, and the Senate by 81 votes to 15.
“But I do think that members are going to have to think about how they will explain these votes back in their districts at a time when prices are on the rise,” Ms. Perino continued. “People are not going to want to see their taxes increased for farmers that we believe are already well taken care of in the marketplace.”
Senator Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who heads the Senate Agriculture Committee, explained the bill’s bipartisan popularity shortly after the Senate approved it last week: “This is really a farm bill for everyone.”
WASHINGTON — The House voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday afternoon to override President Bush’s veto of the $307 billion farm bill, setting the stage for the second veto defeat of Mr. Bush’s presidency.
The 316-to-108 tally, far over the two-thirds needed to overcome a veto, sent the five-year, multipurpose bill to the Senate. Barring a last-minute shift in that chamber, senators appeared certain to vote overwhelmingly for the bill, perhaps before nightfall, sealing the president’s defeat.
Executed without ceremony, the veto was the 10th of Mr. Bush’s presidency, and there was no optimism at the White House that it would stand. The president’s spokeswoman, Dana Perino, conceded as much . “If you look at the vote count, an override is probably likely, just looking at the raw numbers of it,” she said at a news briefing hours before the House vote. She was alluding to last week’s voting, when the bill cleared the House by 318 votes to 106, and the Senate by 81 votes to 15.
“But I do think that members are going to have to think about how they will explain these votes back in their districts at a time when prices are on the rise,” Ms. Perino continued. “People are not going to want to see their taxes increased for farmers that we believe are already well taken care of in the marketplace.”
Senator Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who heads the Senate Agriculture Committee, explained the bill’s bipartisan popularity shortly after the Senate approved it last week: “This is really a farm bill for everyone.”
