After gaffe, Democrats planning to redo farm bill

By MARY CLARE JALONICK,
Whatta buncha, well, oafs. Can't even get even. Open mouth insert foot. But the drive-bys will still call it a success.

Associated Press

Posted: 2008-05-22 05:29:36

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats are picking up the pieces after an embarrassing technical gaffe that delayed a triumphant rejection of President Bush's veto of a massive farm bill.

Members from both parties hoped to bring the $290 billion bill, which includes election-year subsidies for farmers and food stamps for the poor, back to their districts over Memorial Day. But that is looking less likely now that the legislation will have to be passed all over again due to a printing error.

The House voted overwhelmingly, 316-108, on Wednesday to override Bush's veto of the legislation earlier in the day.

The Senate then was expected to follow suit quickly, but action stalled after the discovery that a 34-page section of the bill had been omitted from the printed bill sent to the White House. That means Bush vetoed a different bill from the one Congress passed, raising questions that the eventual law would be unconstitutional.

In order to avoid a partisan dustup, House Democrats hoped to pass the entire bill, again, on Thursday under expedited rules usually reserved for noncontroversial legislation, and the Senate was expected to follow suit. The correct version would then be sent to Bush under a new bill number for another expected veto.

Lawmakers also will have to pass an extension of current farm law, which expires Friday.

Bush says the legislation is too expensive and would send too much government money to wealthy farmers. A bipartisan group of negotiators on the bill made small cuts to subsidies to appease the White House, but Bush said it wasn't enough.