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House farm bill faces treacherous future.

Article Excerpt
Key Points

* Johanns threatens veto.

* Senate bill still in hiding.

THE 2007 farm bill has a long way to go. With the vote last week on the House version of the bill, the process is less than halfway along.

Meanwhile, a much-touted effort to reform the House Agriculture Committee's popular farm bill, H.R. 2419, was soundly defeated last week. The reform amendment, led by Reps. Ron Kind (D., Wis.) and Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.), went down during a floor vote Thursday night with 117 yeas to 309 nays.

Peterson argued successfully that his bill contained significant reforms on commodity programs as well as major new spending for conservation, renewable energy and nutrition programs.

Programs for specialty crop growers were boosted by $1.6 billion over five years under the leadership of Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D., Cal.).

The bill still faced serious turbulence when a last-minute tax package added to the strongly backed bipartisan House bill fractured the support of the House Republican leadership and Republicans on the Agriculture Committee.

That tax package, which sought to stop foreign corporations that use Caribbean tax havens from sheltering taxes earned on their U.S. operations, was condemned by Republicans, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a...

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