Congress sends a farm bill to Bush — again

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - Congress on Thursday sent a $290 billion farm bill to President Bush for a second time in an effort to fix a printing error that has threatened the delivery of U.S. food aid abroad.

To ensure that the aid continues amid a global hunger crisis, Congress and Bush were planning to pass, veto and enact the bill to provide farm subsidies, food stamps and other nutrition programs over the next five years.

The Senate passed the bill 77-15, two weeks after the discovery that 34 pages of the legislation extending those aid programs were missing from the parchment copy that Congress sent the White House. Bush vetoed that version and the House and Senate then enacted it with two-thirds majority votes overriding the veto.

All of it became law, except for the section dealing with international food aid. The House voted to pass the entire bill again, and Thursday's Senate action will send it to Bush for what the White House says will be a second veto.



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