House Ignores Threat of Veto, OKs Farm Bill
The House set up a showdown with President Reagan today, sending him a farm debt relief bill he has threatened to kill with a warning that he “cannot veto the problem” of economic disaster in rural America.
White House spokesman Larry Speakes said Reagan will “in all probability act very quickly” once he receives the bill, and indicated that he has not wavered from his threat to veto it.
The measure was approved by a 255-168 vote of the House, short of two-thirds that would be needed to override a veto. Supporters of the bill concede that they lack enough Senate votes to overturn a veto.
The House, to save time to try to get spring planting funds quickly to farmers, scrapped a debt relief bill it passed last week and embraced the Senate version to get the legislation to Reagan as quickly as possible.
$50,000 Per Farmer
It would provide payment of up to $50,000 in price support loans per farmer this spring rather than next fall. House Agriculture Chairman E. (Kika) de la Garza (D-Tex.) called it a “good investment to keep the farmers on the land.”
It also would provide $100 million in interest subsidies for an estimated $5 billion in federally guaranteed farm loans.
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