By voting down the Grassley-Dorgan Amendment to the 2007 Farm Bill, 43 US senators have blocked a broad bipartisan effort to alleviate poverty abroad, help struggling American farmers, and promote sustainable rural development. Due to a change in procedural rules, 60 votes were required to adopt the amendment, which failed 56-43-1. Senator Klobuchar voted for the amendment, Senator Coleman did not. In response to the vote, Oxfam America released this statement.
Senator Klobuchar's amendment to exclude ultra-wealthy farms from subsidy eligibility also failed. The vote was 48-47-5. Senator Coleman voted against the Klobuchar Amendment.
Without the Grassley-Dorgan Amendment, the 2007 Farm Bill remains a brazenly reckless piece of legislation that pays out millions to wealthy corporations at the expense of small farms, nutrition programs, and the environment. By needlessly subsidizing the overproduction of export commodities such as cotton, the Farm Bill distorts international trade, impoverishing millions living in the lesser-developed world.
Concerned with its fiscal irresponsibility, the Bush administration threatened to veto the Farm Bill last month unless these problems were corrected. With Grassley-Dorgan Amendment's defeat, the 2007 Farm Bill may indeed be vetoed.
Thanks to everyone who contacted Congress about Farm Bill reform! Although today's votes are a great disappointment, it's more frightening to imagine what the Farm Bill would look like had so many individuals not contacted Congress, countering the corporate lobbyists. The fact that the votes were so close is proof-positive that we made a difference.
Stay tuned for further developments.
More Farm Bill news:
AP, Senate rejects Klobuchar amendment to scale back farm subsidies
Detroit Lakes Tribune, Senate rejects amendment limiting agriculture payments
Heritage Foundation Bulletin, Scrap the Senate farm bill and start over
Star Tribune, Senate on verge of passing farm bill
