One Veto Threatened, One Threat Withdrawn

The White House issued a statement late today saying that President Bush has decided to veto the 2008 Farm Bill if it makes it to his desk in its current form and recommended that Congress pass a one-year extension of current farm policy to bridge the gap until the next Congress and Administration can consider another bill. Almost at the same, the White House said that the president would withdraw his threat to veto an bill containing a provision that would stop the government from filling the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a bid to increase oil supply on the world market and lower prices. Mr. Bush had earlier said that the provision would have no impact on gas prices.

On the Farm Bill, the president said that he was "deeply disappointed" in the compromise legislation reached by the House and Senate. He cited high food prices and increasing farming incomes as his reasons for rejecting the package of incentives and subsidies for the nation's family and commercial farmers.

Today's farm economy is very strong and that is something to celebrate. It is also an appropriate time to better target subsidies and put forth real reform. Farm income is expected to exceed the 10-year average by fifty percent this year, yet Congress' bill asks American taxpayers to subsidize the incomes of married farmers who earn $1.5 million per year. I believe doing so at a time of record farm income is irresponsible and jeopardizes America's support for necessary farm programs.

But any farm bill is popular legislation in Congress, more so in an election year, and the president's veto would seem to be an exercise in futility. Congress will almost certainly vote to override the president quickly.

It was the realization that a veto would be overridden that prompted the White House to reverse course on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Senate Republicans voted overwhelmingly for the underlying bill containing the controversial provision. Rather than be perceived to be holding back potential price lowering measure, the White House decided that discretion was the better part of valor. Still, the Administration maintains, correctly, that stopping shipments to the reserve will not have much of an impact at the gas pump.

"[The president] maintains his view that halting the filling of the reserve will not have a meaningful impact on oil prices or gas prices. The Senate made clear today that they want to attempt that measure. The president hopes that this vote on the [Strategic Petroleum Reserve] will not distract members of Congress from the things they could be doing that would actually make a difference for the future, like opening up new domestic supply in an environmentally sensitive way in ANWR [Arctic National Wildlife Refuge] and the OCS [Outer Continental Shelf]."

The veto threat for the Farm Bill is in keeping with the Administration's last-year push to reestablish the president's image as a fiscally responsible steward of government. The president's decision to sign the 2002 Farm Bill drew waves of criticism from conservatives upset at what they viewed as an unnecessary Federal spending boondoggle. That was before the skyrocketing prices for commodities made the necessity of continuing Federal subsidies for farmers even less attractive to them. Ending shipments of oil to the reserve actually saves the government money, so it too can be viewed, optimistically, as a fiscally responsible decision. President Bush has few supporters left, and he appears bound and determined to go out of office with as many of them on his side as he can.